Rahul Dravid, the former India cricketer and head coach, has transitioned to a new position as co-owner of the Dublin Guardians in the upcoming European T20 Premier League. This move marks a significant shift for Dravid as he steps outside his comfort zone, embracing what he describes as an exciting opportunity. His involvement in the league reflects his commitment to expanding his influence in the sport beyond coaching and playing.
The inaugural edition of the ETPL kicks off on August 25 with significant Indian interest. Dravid is a franchise co-owner, Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan is a co-founder of the European city-based league, and Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, and Vijay Shankar will be on the pitch playing for their teams.
Speaking on why he joined the league, Dravid said some stalwarts are already on board and that he felt it would be an “exciting” job. Glenn Maxwell is part of one team, and even the league owners; just the passion that someone like Abhishek Bachchan has for the sport and the team that he has put up to set up the league felt like a good bunch of people trying to do something really nice,” Dravid told JioStar. “There are some really good people to work with and be associated with the league as well. The Amsterdam Flames have Steve Waugh, someone I’ve always admired, and Jamie Dwyer setting up that team.
The 2024 T20 World Cup-winning coach then opined that Europe has a “lot of talent” and there is a chance to grow the sport more in the continent. “I thought, ‘Why not get involved, do something slightly different? I’ve always been involved as a coach or as a player, but trying to set up things and appoint coaches and players and marketing and finance, stuff that is a little bit out of my comfort zone, is exciting nevertheless,” he added. “I’ve always felt that there is a lot of talent and a lot of opportunity to grow the sport in Europe. It felt like the right platform to be able to grow the sport in Europe and to try and make an effort as a former cricketer to have more people participate in the game, recognising that cricket needs to grow and be available to a lot more boys and girls to be able to play the game,” he added. “Personally, I love Test cricket; it’s always going to be the number one format of the game. But, you have to be realistic enough to realise that if you want to grow the game of cricket and not make it a niche game that’s played only by a few countries, and we want the next generation to be able to enjoy, follow and play the game, then T20 is a great format to be able to promote the game, especially in this part of the world, where you’re trying to introduce the game and get more people involved. “From there, once you’re able to get people involved in the game, then you can start thinking about putting things in place to see if there’s an opportunity to grow the longer formats of the game in this part of the world. But when you’re starting, when you’re trying to take your early steps, I think the T20 format’s the perfect format,” he added.
