Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) director of Cricket Mo Bobat has said that the fans at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium will create an intimidating atmosphere for the opposition ahead of their first home game of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) against Gujarat Titans (GT).
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00:00Firstly, it's brilliant to be back here at Bangalore. It feels a little bit weird having
00:04played two games and having not played a game here yet. So, really excited to be here. I
00:09think it will be great to get in front of our fans. So, one part of the home advantage
00:13will be the atmosphere that they create, which I'm sure will be intimidating for the opposition
00:17or it can be, particularly when it's a bit noisy. In terms of the actual playing conditions,
00:21I think everybody knows what to expect from a surface here in Bangalore. It's a good wicket.
00:27We know it's pretty short boundaries. We know the ball carries and flies, so they're
00:30typically high-scoring games. I'd probably answer that question by taking you back to
00:35our auction. We've recruited a team that we think is pretty powerful as a batting line-up.
00:39So, we hope we can exploit those batting conditions. We think we've got a bowling attack that's
00:43particularly skilful and that can deal with the challenge of bowling here, attacking here
00:48but also defending here. So, that's been our focus from the moment we started trying to
00:52assemble our squad. And the way we played in the first two games, we're building good
00:57confidence in those two areas with our powerful batting and skilful bowling.
01:01Former RCB player, EB de Villiers, has called out the scheduling of RCB matches. You had
01:09remarked that the first two away games and then a home game and then you go away again
01:13to Mumbai. So, is that something that you have given a thought about, not having enough
01:18home games at the start of the season? And have you ever thought about how away matches
01:22are also been an advantage because he has also remarked that away matches being something
01:27that could gel the team together. Have you seen that within the players so far?
01:33Not specifically. I think you just deal with the schedule that you get given. We definitely
01:38tried to focus in those first couple of games at making a statement start because going
01:42to two big teams with good and proud home records is a good challenge. So, we use that
01:48as something to motivate the group. Similarly, we want to come back here and motivate the
01:53group to put on a show in front of their own fans. So, you just deal with what's in front
01:57of you. So, I don't think that's a big issue. I think a bigger challenge for us scheduling-wise
02:01is probably the amount of travel that we've got. So, we've actually got quite a laid-back
02:07and quiet start and quite a nice relaxed end but the middle is very congested. I think
02:14from after this game onwards we play something like seven games in 22 days with seven travel
02:18days. That's a very hectic schedule. So, I'm more interested in how we keep the boys fresh
02:24through that period and keep playing the way we want to play.
02:27I know it's early days yet but what have you made of Patidar as a captain, as a leader,
02:33the fact that he's also led with the bat. How impressed are you with how he's gone so far?
02:39What have you guys made of it? I think it's been pretty good. The main thing you want
02:45to see from any leader or captain is typically that they continue to let their personality
02:51come across and I think he's done that really well. We don't want him to become a captain
02:55and be anybody else. We want him to be himself. So, very calm inwardly and outwardly. He rarely,
03:03if ever, takes a backward step and we've seen that with his batting, particularly the other
03:06day at CSK. Every time we lost wickets he continued to throw punches which was really
03:11good. He seems to have coped with all the other stuff that comes with captaincy really
03:15well as well because it's a busy time. At the minute I think he's been excellent. He's
03:19been everything I hoped and expected him to be. We know it's early days. There's a lot
03:23of cricket left to be played and when we get through the busy part of the schedule and
03:27the fixtures come thick and fast and no doubt we'll have some challenges at some point in
03:31the season. That'll be a time where we've really got to be there to support him. But
03:34at the minute he's been very impressive.
03:35Just a couple of matches, but what's the value that Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood
03:43brings to the table as the new world bowlers for you?
03:46Two bowlers with extreme class as we know. International pedigree. They know their strengths
03:54really well. The opposition will know their strengths too, so they're not easy bowlers
03:59to play against. It's also worth mentioning Yash Dayal. I think as a three-man pace bowling
04:04unit those three have got a high degree of variety, very good skill. We think they'll
04:09be well suited to bowling somewhere difficult and challenging like here. So at the minute
04:13we're very happy with how those guys have gone. But we've also got other guys in the
04:16wings knocking on the door. I think Rasik's a very skilful bowler, again particularly
04:21in these sorts of conditions. We've got point of difference with Nuan and people like that,
04:25so we're really happy with our bowling unit.
04:29Two matches, you said your confidence is very high and the boys are fresh. With so many
04:33matches do you think you'll maintain the consistency or the law of averages will catch up to you?
04:40How are you defining the law of averages?
04:45We just take one game at a time. It's a bit of a cliche and you hear a lot of coaches
04:55say that, but we just take one game at a time. At the minute all our focus is on GT tomorrow
05:00night and we've also really had a focus on playing to our potential. We feel like we've
05:08assembled a good squad. That's a good first step. We feel like we've got clarity on our
05:11strongest team. If we play to potential the results take care of themselves and you've
05:15just got to repeat that for 14 group games and then hopefully for some knockout games.
05:19We don't really look beyond that.
05:23Your thoughts about impact player rule?
05:32I think it brings an added excitement clearly for the audience. I think it also makes sure
05:41that games stay live for longer, which I think is useful. I think that also is relevant here
05:48where I think games stay live for longer because you can chase quite a lot at the end. In many
05:52ways I think it makes for exciting cricket. If you were someone who was particularly bothered
05:59about Indian cricket's future you might ask a few questions around what it's done to the
06:03all-rounder, but me in this position right now that isn't a major concern for me. It's
06:08a case of us trying to make sure that we use it to our advantage. As you've probably seen
06:12in the two games we've had so far we've had a pretty simple approach to it. We haven't
06:16been too creative with it at this stage. We've been pretty simple with it. It gives us a
06:21chance to get the right bowlers on the field and to bat with the right level of depth.
06:29There were a couple of rules before this season about the saliva ban being lifted and then
06:34the change of ball which was allowed. Have you spoken to the bowlers so far? Do they
06:39think that's making a difference, that's kind of helping them a little bit compared to previous
06:43seasons?
06:45Firstly, we were in favour of the decision to permit another new ball in the back end
06:53of the second innings if dew was playing a factor. I was at the captain's meeting with
06:58Raja and that was discussed at length and we debated a number of things, but I think
07:02in principle trying to negate the impact of the toss when basically chasing just makes
07:10the game an obvious conclusion I think is a really good thing. So it just balances that
07:14out a little bit, so the bowlers are pretty happy with that. It seems to have not been
07:17that much dew across the competition anyway at this stage, so we don't know how useful
07:21that will end up being. I think that might play out as we get through the coming weeks
07:24and months, but at the minute it hasn't played out too much, but I think it's a good addition.
07:29The saliva one I haven't really thought that much about. If I think of it from a hygiene
07:32perspective I do also think it's pretty disgusting that we're all licking cricket balls, but
07:36I can understand why bowlers like that. I always say that in this country I don't view
07:42the saliva ban as that big an issue because you do enough sweating. If you're playing
07:46cricket in England you could do with a little bit of saliva because you don't do too much
07:49sweating with the temperature there, so I'm not sure it has that much relevance here in
07:52India, but it certainly would do in England.
07:57Injuries and workload are a major point of concern when it comes to Hazlewood and Bovenejo,
08:07so going ahead have you planned anything according to that as you said that the middle phase
08:11is quite hectic when it comes to travelling and seven matches, so will we see some workload
08:16management between the two?
08:18Well look, it isn't a major cause for concern, you stated it was, it's not a major cause
08:23of concern right now because they're both fit. Obviously Boovey had a slightly slower
08:28start and lead in just because he had a very minor niggle and we didn't want to put him
08:31at risk. He probably could have played that first game if we really wanted him to, but
08:34we didn't want to put him at risk. Josh came off the back of an injury with Cricket Australia
08:39but they managed that pretty conservatively and then handed him over to us and we finished
08:43that rehab here, so they're both in a good place now. A bit like my answer to the gentleman
08:48here that we're not thinking too far ahead. It's likely we're going to have to think about
08:52things to keep players fresh through the middle, I think that's obvious, but right now every
08:57game is important, so we're not thinking too far ahead. We'll take it on a day by day and
09:01week by week basis. Our medical team are doing a brilliant job and they've got a good track
09:06record over the last few years. If you look at us relative to probably other teams we've
09:09not had too many soft tissue injuries, so just keep focusing every day at a time, every
09:13game at a time, try and keep them on the park because we know how good they are. If they
09:17end up needing a bit of a rest we're pretty relaxed about that too because we've got a
09:20really good squad.