Royal Challengers Bengaluru director of cricket Mo Bobat has underlined the team’s commitment to maintaining its aggressive brand of cricket ahead of their clash against Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League, while also praising skipper Rajat Patidar for fully embracing the philosophy.
RCB have played with an ultra-aggressive mindset in the tournament so far, refusing to take their foot off the pedal even when they have lost wickets in clusters.
“I want us to play aggressive cricket. I want us to be brave—brave when those moments really require bravery. When the game is on the line or things get a little bit difficult, if we’re aggressive and brave through every phase, I think we’ll play the way we want to play,” said Bobat on the eve of the game against Gujarat Titans, as quoted by PTI.
Under Patidar’s leadership, RCB secured their maiden IPL title last year and have started strongly this season as well, winning four of their six matches to sit third on the table.
“We plan with aggressive tactics as our preference. But Rajat has to make his own decisions out there, and he’s very good at that. One of Rajat’s biggest strengths is that he’s incredibly calm,” Bobat added.
Bobat believes Patidar has stuck to the team’s line of thinking while still making bold decisions on the field. “When it gets a little bit chaotic, he’s quite good at just remaining calm and sticking to the things that he thought he wanted to do. With the bat, that means he’s quite good at leading from the front. In the field, he’s always trying to take wickets, which is great. That is part of our identity and the way we want to play, and he’s a good fit for that,” he continued.
NO CONTROL OVER CHINNASWAMY PITCH
The season has seen the Chinnaswamy pitch produce a mix of placid and tacky surfaces, but Bobat did not place too much importance on it. He did, however, confirm that the pitch no longer strictly aligns with its traditional batter-friendly reputation after two matches produced totals of 149 and 175.
“We’ve got a BCCI curator here who’s leading the pitch preparation, so to put it simply, we don’t have a huge amount of influence on it. It’s a home venue in terms of city and stadium, but in terms of surface, we exert no influence,” he said. “It’s been a fairly different wicket, I suppose, over the last two and a half years that I’ve been involved. We feel like we’ve got a decent grasp of it. It isn’t always the same, but we feel like we understand it well enough. For us, it doesn’t change the way we prepare for games, though.”
The game against Gujarat Titans will be the last home fixture for the franchise at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. They will play their last two home games at the Nava Raipur International Cricket Stadium starting May 10.
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