RCB’s collective firepower makes them a ‘complete tea’, says Bobat
Royal Challengers Bengaluru director of cricket Mo Bobat credited the franchise’s “collective contributions” and fearless identity after the defending champions thrashed Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 to storm into a second successive IPL final.
RCB, who piled up a massive 254 for five before bundling out GT for 162, were powered by skipper Rajat Patidar’s blistering unbeaten 93 off 33 balls and an all-round bowling effort on Tuesday.
Bobat said the biggest takeaway from RCB’s dominant run over the last two seasons was the number of players stepping up consistently in pressure situations.
“I’m especially pleased that we’ve got a number of people contributing to wins. We’re not too dependent on one or two players with the bat or one or two with the ball. We’ve got a number of people contributing and that’s the really pleasing thing,” Bobat said after the 92-run win.
“If everybody contributes and fulfils their roles, then results should take care of themselves. That’s probably the most encouraging thing to come out of today’s game, as well as the fact that obviously you’re into the final,” he added.
Bobat reserved special praise for captain Patidar, whose explosive innings dismantled the Titans attack after RCB lost a couple of early wickets.
“He’s certainly batting brilliantly right now and that was a really special knock today. I’m sure he’ll be really pleased about being able to stand up in a big qualifier and a big game,” he said.
“I think any team that’s got the captain playing well, it fills them with even greater confidence. He’s leading by example.”
Calling Patidar a calm leader, Bobat said the skipper’s game awareness and ability to absorb pressure has stood out this season.
“One of the things he’s done well this year is he’s picked his moments really well. A game like today, he took his time to get in after we lost a couple of wickets, built a little partnership and then went through the gears again,” he said.
“That takes a real level of discipline and sophistication to your thinking and planning. Him reading situations and conditions and knowing when to go to his top gears and when to drop down a gear is a really impressive part of his development.”
Bobat said RCB’s aggressive approach with the bat stemmed from respect for the quality of Gujarat Titans’ batting line-up.
“We put ourselves under a little bit of healthy pressure to go, well, we need to take the game beyond them if we can. We know how good a team they are and the quality of their top order,” he said.
“So we wanted to try and push the game beyond them as best we could. That was part of our thought process.”
He also highlighted the impact of experienced campaigners such as Virat Kohli, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in high-pressure matches.
“I think if you can recruit a team where the guys walk towards those pressure situations and they can either counter-attack or absorb pressure and execute clinically, they’re the things you’re looking for,” he said.
On Patidar’s fearless batting identity, Bobat said the RCB skipper had worked tirelessly on improving his all-round game.
“I remember at some point last season I called him a spin basher and I think he got quite annoyed with me because I was implying it was only spin,” he said with a laugh.
“He works incredibly hard and one thing about Rajat is he tends to middle the ball quite often. Whether he’s facing pace or spin, front foot or back foot, the ball hits the middle of his bat a lot.”
Bobat also praised Venkatesh Iyer for maintaining a positive attitude despite spending a large part of the season on the bench before grabbing his opportunity in the playoffs.
“His attitude has been outstanding. At no point did it show that he was frustrated. He worked incredibly hard in practice and fought for an opportunity,” he said.
“As soon as he got his opportunity in the starting line-up, he took it. From ball one today, he and Virat set the tone and made it clear to GT that we were going to come at them.”
