Trying to stay in the hunter mindset: RCB Director

Royal Challengers Bengaluru director of cricket Mo Bobat says the defending champions’ marauding run in the ongoing IPL is because of a “hunter mindset” which prevented complicity from creeping in after the team’s maiden trophy win last year.

RCB was the first team to seal a berth in the knockout stage this year, garnering 18 points. With a game in hand, they will be eager to finish atop the points table. The side has logged nine wins in its 13 matches so far and will be up against Lucknow Super Giants in the final league stage engagement on May 22.

“I didn’t want it to feel like we had climbed Mount Everest (winning the title last year). We wanted to just keep climbing, keep hunting. We’ve talked with that language a little bit internally, just trying to stay in that hunter mindset,” Bobat told a select media gathering as part of the third edition of RCB Innovation Lab’s Indian Sports Summit. “For myself and even the senior players, quickly adapting, resetting mindsets and going, right, what are we going after next is really important,” he added.

So, how easy was it to inculcate that mindset within the players?

“Most of it is just that psychological shift really, just making sure that people are all aligned and motivated to go through the next thing. Now, sport is quite unforgiving. You win a trophy and very quickly the world moves on.

“You’ve got to balance enjoying and being proud of what you’ve achieved, but also shifting people’s attention towards what’s next. The same will be true this season however this season pans out for us. Obviously, we’re keen to go all the way, but that might not happen,” he said.

A key element of that moving forward process is to manage a variety of players in the dug-out — from highly experienced pros to wide-eyed greenhorns.

“You could have a 19-year-old who’s just been signed on his first IPL contract. You could have an Indian player who’s in their mid-thirties, who’s been there and done it all for his country and multiple franchises.

“Then you’ve also got this slightly distorted financial context where what players earn isn’t really, I believe, about player value. What you get at an auction isn’t your worth, it’s supply and demand. So you could have a player that is more experienced and achieved more, earning less than somebody who’s a novice, but actually that skill set is in demand.

“So, how do you get all of those people lined up to the same motive, try and get everyone’s efforts going in the same direction? In the IPL, you get about eight to ten days. So it’s not easy, but that’s one of the really exciting challenges,” he detailed.

Rajat Patidar is unique: Bobat said having a relatively low-profile captain like Rajat Patidar, who takes care of on-field matters, helps in dividing the duties and getting better results.

“Rajat is quite a unique character. I came to the franchise with Faf (du Plessis) as captain. Everyone will know Faf’s reputation, his calibre, he’s a stand-up guy, brilliant leader. He’s the sort of person who as a cricket captain wants to have an input in everything.

“But Rajat’s very different. Rajat’s more trusting...He wants to have an input on the team that takes the field and then he thinks that when he crosses the line to take the field, that’s when his job starts.

“So, it’s about the in-game tactics, in-game decision-making, who bowls when, what fields we set. And then outside of that, he doesn’t want a lot of those other expectations and pressures. He wants to trust the management team.”

The Englishman then explained how Patidar has evolved as a skipper over the last two seasons.

“I’d say he’s probably taken on a relatively narrow remit compared to Faf. But he’s certainly developing his own understanding and views of how he wants the team to line up. He’s got a stronger sense of how he wants the team to play.

“He is certainly becoming an even better decision-maker out in the middle. He has, from day one, been quite good at blocking out the noise. That could come from internal senior players.”

Bobat said Patidar has grown as a captain and now manages seniors in the side like Virat Kohli better.

“But I’m sure Rajat has some nice challenges trying to manage the inputs from whether it’s Virat, Krunal, you know, whoever, some really feisty characters which we love. How do we evolve what we’re doing?

“So, I think he’s developing all of those skills. So, we’ll continue to grow him over time, but it’s been great to see his evolution so far,” he added.