Mo Bobat, the director of cricket for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, encouraged the players on Tuesday to maintain their “humility” and avoid being conceited after winning their first IPL championship the previous year.
In the IPL 2025 final, the RCB overcame Punjab Kings to win their first title, which their devoted supporters had been waiting for since 2008.
“This is a new campaign. A bit like last season, we weren’t carrying the baggage of 17 years. This year, we’re not carrying the ego of one year of success either. We have to start with humility. It is nice to have got that first trophy because it means we can look forward to and not have to answer those sorts of questions for too much longer. Hopefully, we can look forward and focus on what’s in front of us,” PTI quoted Bobat saying in the pre-season press meet in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Bobat’s perspective on RCB’s prolonged failure to win the trophy and the psychological damage it can cause to players was somewhat different.
“I’m not sure I would describe it as a jinx. Franchise cricket is so transient and players come and go. Whilst our fans and the franchise might have been chasing that elusive trophy for 17 years, that isn’t the view of the world of everybody involved.”
“For example, if I take myself, it was only my second season with RCB. So, whilst I’m mindful of the many years that we haven’t won the trophy, I’m not personally carrying that baggage. So I’ve got a lot of fresh energy and a lot of optimism. That is true for much of the squad,” he added.
However, the Englishman did not overlook the “unique” standings of players like Virat Kohli, who has been a member of RCB since 2008.
“Virat’s quite a unique case in point. Obviously, he’s done the whole journey and he’s ridden the highs and the lows of many years. So, for him personally, it was quite an emotional outpouring at the end of that (2025) final.”
“And that was quite beautiful to see, actually. It was great that we could share that moment with the likes of AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle, other guys who have been big, iconic players for the franchise. But I would just say that not everybody would have experienced it that same way.”
However, after 11 fans were killed in a stampede near the stadium on June 4, 2025, RCB was forced to quickly end its festivities.
Before the seven home games were divided between Bengaluru (5) and Raipur (2), the vile incident also set off a chain of events that included the uncertainty surrounding games at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
It wasn’t an ideal start to the season, Bobat acknowledged.
“It was probably a bit of a distraction, because you want to have clarity. I prefer to try and assemble teams that can adapt to any surfaces and conditions. One of the beauties of playing in the IPL is that different grounds require different tactics, maybe different combinations.”
“You’re already trying to adapt between red soil surfaces, black soil surfaces, mixed soil. So, I don’t think it would have affected our decision-making too strongly. Ideally, you want these things clarified as early as possible.”
Josh Hazlewood, a crucial bowler for RCB, was injured and would miss at least the first half of the 2026 IPL. Taking 22 wickets and tying down other teams even in the Power Play, the Australian pacer was a major contributor to the championship victory last year.
“Josh has missed quite a bit of cricket in recent times, so he’s currently working through a return to play programme. We are liaising very closely with both Josh and Cricket Australia, and our medical teams are collaborating very strongly on a day-to-day basis on his programme. As soon as he gets to a point where CA are happy, he’ll come over, and we hope to have him with us very soon.”
The seasoned coach also saw Hazlewood’s absence as a sign of the current standard of a busy cricket schedule.
“It’s probably a symptom of the congested cricket schedule, isn’t it? Any of us who follow cricket know how challenging that is on a domestic level, but also an international level. It’s not ideal for any of the teams that are losing players at this stage because it impacts your planning.”
“I sympathise and empathise with any of the teams going through that at the minute because it’s not easy. We try to communicate really closely with the international governing bodies. Our medical team is excellent. They’re always communicating with players and other governing body medical teams.”
Because players cannot be subjected to a broad, single-pointed schedule, Bobat hoped for a balanced workload management system.
“It’s a bigger question that cricket has to grapple with. Even if I think about my previous role working with England, many hours, many days and many months you spend trying to understand fast bowling and the demands.”
“It probably shows you that either we don’t understand that area well enough still as a game or it might simply be that the workloads that players are being exposed to are unmanageable right now. When I talk about workloads, it’s important to know that any extreme is not wise.”
“You can be under-bowled just as much as you can be over-bowled. So, understanding that is quite tricky,” he detailed.
Bobat also downplayed worries over Phil Salt’s performance, despite the England opener’s lackluster T20 World Cup performance ahead of the IPL.
“Someone like Phil Salt is still ranked in one of the top. Not recently, but top two or three T20 batters in the world. So there’s enough depth of confidence there. He also really enjoys being with RCB, his partnership with Virat.”
Salt’s meager 130 runs at an average of 16.25 from eight games had a detrimental effect on England’s Power Play push in the marquee tournament.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll see at the start of the season Salt doing his thing.” he said.
