Mo Bobat, the director of cricket for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, stated on Sunday, April 14, that the team has not performed as they had hoped in the lead-up to the 2024 Indian Premier League. As the league phase draws to a close, RCB finds themselves at the bottom of the rankings after only one victory in six games, including four straight losses.
The team’s preseason acquisitions of Alzarri Joseph and Cam Green, two of their high-profile signings, have already been devoured by a roulette-style selection process that has seen them go through 19 different players thus far, falling short of the Delhi Capitals’ 20. Bobat stated that additional personnel changes may occur, starting with Monday night’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, defying the notion of settled sides and helping RCB stop the league campaign’s downward spiral that began with an early victory against Punjab Kings.
“We must begin to win some games. Look, it’s clear that the competition is about halfway over. Furthermore, we haven’t played the manner we wanted to play, and that is something we cannot deny,” Bobat remarked. Before entering the competition, you calculate your odds of winning. When we first entered this tournament, it was in the final year of an auction cycle. You go to the auction, do your best to enhance the team, plan your approach, and show up expecting to perform. We haven’t played the manner we would like to right now. That is situated above.
“Then, when you examine various combinations and selection alternatives, you attempt to assist the players in becoming better players. In the end, though, the players would have expected to perform—possibly even better than they have. Thus, we must assist them. We’ve previously looked at a few different staff changes with our coaching and support. We’ll also keep considering whether making any adjustments to the team’s selection can improve it.
“And we have one of the top head coaches in the world in Andy [Flower, Head Coach], who excels at developing players and teams. Along with his coaches and support staff, he is making every effort and doing his best so that we may attempt to turn things around. And if we can start by winning the following game, so that all you can think about is the one you’re playing, you might be able to gain some momentum. However, in contests such as this, adverse momentum can accumulate rapidly. In order to gain some good momentum, you should attempt to change that.”
With the bowling and batting departments struggling at the same time, RCB’s problem is that there are no simple answers. Captain Faf du Plessis delivered a harsh assessment of the bowling after the team’s most recent loss to the Mumbai Indians. He said there were no true weapons in there and pleaded with the hitters to do more of the heavy lifting and constantly chase above-par totals. RCB, the most expensive team in the PowerPlays, has taken the fewest wickets thus far. Their specialist, Mohammed Siraj, has increased his phase total from an amazing 5.93 last season to 12.3. On the other side, another prominent player’s bad form—32 runs in six innings—has hurt the batting side.
“Let me start by saying that Maxwell is dissatisfied. He’s clearly had big expectations, and the last 12 to 24 months have been quite spectacular. Additionally, he plays a critical role in our hitting lineup that we have planned. He is a vital member of our batting lineup despite being an all-rounder, especially in the middle overs when we want to be able to attack spin in particular, against which he is among the best players in the world. Thus far, we’ve been doing all in our power to assist him in finding his optimal form, Bobat added.
Siraj believes he hasn’t been himself as well. Our task is to attempt to lift him. Mohammed Siraj is a player when he’s on song, as his body language and rhythm are evident to all.
“Our team and squad consist of numerous champion cricket players, but we haven’t performed at that caliber. Thus, it is our responsibility, and the captain is working to maximize their potential. As a result, our strategies include seeking to increase performance, attempting to establish a positive powerplay, making sure the opponent is under pressure during the middle overs, and ensuring that we are able to finish strongly. Thus far, our intermediate to lower order has performed admirably. That has, in my opinion, been more advantageous. Thus, let’s attempt to ensure that the lower order can continue to fire. After that, we want to be able to bowl aggressively. Our goal is to capture more wickets. I don’t think it’s possible to try to ignore the rules anymore, given the way the IPL has changed in terms of impact players. Getting wickets is, in my opinion, the best approach to prevent runs from being conceded because, if you try to do so, they will introduce an impact player and you will be facing eight or maybe nine batsmen.”
With its short boundaries and the thin air through which balls fly, the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium presents no home comforts for the RCB, which is the difficulty for them as always. In the three games they have played here, RCB has already dropped two of them. The pitches played truer than they have in prior years. Because of their two-paced play this year, particularly in the opening innings of games, the toss becomes much more important. The Delhi Capitals chose to begin the season with two home games in Vizag because they anticipated a similar level of pitch exhaustion at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Since seam bowling is our main weakness and our top-order hitters are excellent against pace bowling, I believe that what we’ve attempted to do is create pitches that should bounce and have pace. So that’s how we attempt to have it,” Bobat remarked.
It hasn’t always been this way. It’s not that simple; we attempt to collaborate closely with the curator to ensure that we receive exactly what we want. At the same time, we want to be fair to him and his crew, who are making a great effort to fulfill our requests. However, it’s evident that there has been a lot of cricket on this area this time of year. There was a lot of domestic cricket and the WPL. Our goal is to create circumstances that complement our advantages. However, the short answer is that winning in the Chinnaswamy is not that simple. Due to its modest size, this ground is ideal for everyone to try their hand at scoring a large point, but it may also be challenging to defend against if you lose the toss. It’s not an easy area, therefore we must be ready to take on the task.”
Even if the cards may be stacked against them in terms of form, squad strength, circumstances, and history, Bobat and the other RCB executives are hesitant to give up on the season just yet and instead want to start making plans for 2025.
“We don’t consider that. In my opinion, we had 14 group games to begin the season with the goal of making the playoffs, and we were in complete control of that,” Bobat stated. “As we sit here with eight games remaining, we also have the ability to make the playoffs. There comes a time when we have no control over things, and at that point, your perspective may change. It’s in our hands right now, but we have to have faith. That’s the team’s unambiguous message from us. Additionally, since there will be a large auction and things will change, it is not really worthwhile to view it as a free play for the following year. Every team will start with a clean slate to examine their available assets. For now, this season and especially the upcoming game are the main priorities. We won’t give up in our changing room, for sure.”
