Head coach Rahul Dravid was reportedly "kicked out" of the Rajasthan Royals after declining the "broader role" that the team offered him, according to former South Africa batter AB de Villiers.

Exactly one year after being signed to a multi-year contract, the Indian legend abruptly concluded his second career with the organization. RR and Rahul Dravid have been associated as both player and coach.

After completing his term as India's head coach, Dravid joined as the head coach of RR for IPL 2024. Despite high expectations, RR finished in ninth place in the points table with only four wins from 14 games, barely above the Chennai Super Kings.

Things went a bit downhill for RR as Sanju Samson has reportedly asked for his release, and murmurs are the same about Yashasvi Jaiswal. RR seemingly wants to promote Riyan Parag as their captain.

However, Rahul Dravid’s departure has shocked everyone, and AB de Villiers shared his thoughts about the same. He stated that Dravid might have been nudged out by the RR management after he refused the broader role and used the football analogy of him being “kicked out.”

"It sort of sounds to me like it was an owner or management kind of call. They gave him an option to have a broader role in the team. He sort of turned that down. Maybe he was upset because he really wanted to still be involved. He wanted to be in the dugout. Maybe it was his call. I don't know. Well, I'm pretty sure we'll find out once we get him talking about it in the future. Maybe. But Rahul, obviously, is leaving big footsteps behind, big shoes to fill,” De Villiers said on his YouTube show '360 LIVE.'

"He's a larger-than-life kind of character, and he knows a lot about the game. And I personally have spoken to youngsters before on this show as well. Actually, some of my interviews were with a lot of people who spoke about him having a huge influence on their careers. So, yeah, he will definitely be missed,” he added.

Additionally, De Villiers believed that rather than revitalizing the team, firing too many veterans too soon upset the equilibrium and hastened its collapse.

"Sometimes you see it in the Premier League as well, the football league, where the managers and the coaches are always under huge pressure to perform and to bring trophies home. And once they don't, they start hearing from the owners and whoever makes the decisions for the various franchises, so we don't know the facts really. It sounds to me like the fact that he turned down that other role is sort of like he was kicked out, which is never ideal.

But maybe Rajasthan has different ideas for the upcoming season. Maybe they want to shake things up a bit and move forward with that. I don't think they had the greatest auction last time, as they let go of some incredible players, the likes of Jos Buttler, to name but a few, which I thought was a mistake. Sometimes it’s a good thing, but not if you’re overly aggressive. You can let one or two go, but they let a huge bulk of their team go at once. I think it led to a gradual sort of decline,” De Villiers concluded.

RR have not won the IPL title since 2008, and their next best result was playing the final of IPL 2022, where they lost to debutant franchise Gujarat Titans.