The curtains may have come down on the Wall's international career but Rahul Dravid could become even more visible on the small screen in the upcoming IPL season as his team Rajasthan Royals looks to cash in on the emotional quotient post his retirement.
Not only his IPL team, endorsement market experts believe that Dravid could still be a natural choice for many brands thanks to his reliability and integrity.
"We are planning to shoot an advertisement with Rahul Dravid along with other team members of Rajasthan Royals. He is a very good cricketer and an association with him will definitely help us upgrade our brand," Supertech Ltd CMD R K Arora told PTI.
Real estate developer Supertech is one of the sponsors of Rajasthan Royals (RR), the team that will be captained by Dravid in the fifth season of the Indian Premier League.
According to RR's Chief Executive Officer Raghu Iyer, Dravid signifies reliability and integrity.
"After the news of his retirement, definitely the emotional quotient has gone up and it will definitely have a positive rub off on Rajasthan Royals as fans would like to see him play cricket. It should augur well for Rajasthan Royals team in this IPL season," Iyer said.
RR's sponsors, including TCS, Ultratech, Kingfisher, Puma and Supertech would want to use his image along with other RR team members in their commercials and promotions, he added.
"They (sponsors) were already planning, but his retirement will surely accentuate that," Iyer added.
In the past Dravid has endorsed a host of brands, including Bank of Baroda, Britannia, Hutch, Reebok, Sansui, Citizen, Pepsi, Karnataka Tourism, Castrol, Max New York Life, Kissan and Gillette.
However, in the last few years he was not very actively in the endorsement market.
"Cricket is largely about youth and Dravid has not been visible in the brand endorsement market for quite some time now. Till about 7-8 years back, he was the biggest endorser after Sachin Tendulkar," Collage Sports Management Director Latika Khaneja said.
He may be able to make a comeback like Srikkanth, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar, she said.
"He will be a natural choice for brands which are looking for someone who symbolises strength and trust," Khaneja added.
Ending a glittering 16-year career, Dravid on Friday announced his retirement from international cricket with 13,288 Test runs, the second highest aggregate in the game's history.
Dravid's brand endorsements are managed by Twenty First Century.
