Gareth Southgate spotted at IPL 2025 game, reveals he ‘used to watch Test matches all day (in) era of Kapil Dev)’
Former England football manager Gareth Southgate has been spotted at a couple of Rajasthan Royals games in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. Not just watching the games, he was even spotted sporting the official T-shirt of the Royals, who had won the first season of the IPL back in 2008.
Southgate revealed that he was a fan of cricket from his childhood days. Southgate was present at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata to watch Rajasthan take on Kolkata Knight Riders. Chasing a target of 207 runs, Rajasthan Royals fell short one run.
“Very often, when you play (football) at Wembley, the crowd is a little bit quieter. I have always been a fan of cricket. When I was a young kid, I used to watch Test matches all day long. I mean, I am going back to the era of Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and players like that and then over the years, I got to know a lot of the players when I was playing for England, and I knew a lot of the England team,” Southgate told the IPL’s social media team in an interview during a match.
🤝 ‘ ⚽🏏
Passion for cricket 👌
Former England football manager Gareth Southgate is soaking up the #TATAIPL experience with #RR 🩷And more…#KKRvRR | @rajasthanroyals pic.twitter.com/doadVgHWnX
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 5, 2025
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“Last year, Ben Stokes came and talked to the England team. Also, with a lot of coaches, you learn a lot across sports, so that’s really why I am here,” Southgate said in a video posted IPL and Rajasthan Royals on Instagram.
Southgate also spoke of learning from other sports as managers of elite sports teams.
He added: “Every sport is evolving rapidly, so much that coaches share, medical teams share, and yeah, it’s always fascinating to go outside your field and learn from other people. As I said, I love the sport. So it’s lovely to come here, and I have loved coming to India. It is the first time I have been to India. It has been amazing.”
