While Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have received a lot of praise for helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru win their second IPL championship in a row, another man may be quietly laughing with joy in a quiet corner.
The quiet revolutionary who turned RCB from history-seekers to history-makers is Andy Flower.
RCB was still chasing their maiden IPL championship when he became over in August 2023, making them a target for vicious social media criticism. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the Royal Challengers, a squad that thrived on Galacticos culture, were the IPL’s Paris St. Germain at the time.
Despite accumulating a brilliant array of stars, the Royal Challengers experienced years of disappointment, much like PSG, who are now two-time UEFA Champions League winners under Luis Enrique. They had some of the top players in T20 cricket, including Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, Dale Steyn, Shane Watson, and AB de Villiers, in addition to Kohli.
Similar to how PSG discovered their Messiah in Enrique in 2023, the same year Flower joined the Bengaluru team, RCB discovered theirs in the Zimbabwean, a cricketing genius who believes in cohesiveness and structure to achieve desired outcomes.
Having led England to the Ashes in 2005, a Test series victory in India in 2012, and the 2010 T20 World Cup, Flower has demonstrated multi-level credentials.
At the club level, he had helped the Maratha Arabians, Gulf Giants, Multan Sultans, and Trent Rockets win titles in a number of franchise leagues. It ended PSG’s 55-year wait for a European championship and replicated Enrique’s treble-winning feat with Barcelona.
Despite all of that, Flower had to defy the established norms of the Royal Challengers. Flower’s focus after succeeding Mike Hesson was to strengthen RCB’s bowling, but the Rs 10.75 crore signing of Bhuvneshwar Kumar prior to IPL 2025 caused a lot of controversy.
However, it turned out to be a brilliant move as the seasoned pacer led RCB’s bowling unit with skill and took 45 wickets over two IPL seasons.
Rasikh Salam Dhar, Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh, and Mangesh Yadav were among the young bowlers that Flower, a well-known promoter of new talent, recruited with the help of mentor Dinesh Karthik, Director of Cricket Mo Bobat, and other scouts.
Flower’s capacity to collaborate well with both established players and emerging talent was emphasized by captain Patidar.
“I can say I have played for four years in the IPL. He is one of the best coaches, I feel, because of the way he handles players. Not only players who are playing, but the players who are not playing, the new players in the team, those are playing their first IPL season, he spends a lot of time with every individual. I don’t have enough words for him, but he is the best coach I have played under,” PTI quoted Patidar as saying.
The 33-year-old used Rasikh Salaam Dar as an example to support his claims. In the 2026 Indian Premier League, Rasikdh got 19 wickets to brilliantly assist Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar.
“When we gave a chance to Dhar, he looked confident. He is very much confident about his skills, about his slower balls, back of the hands and yorkers. I think he supported Bhuvi and Josh in IPL 2026 well. Whenever I see him, he has clarity about his role,” he said.
Patidar said that this clarity comes from treating cricketers equally regardless of their pay grade.
“Definitely, I think the culture has changed. There have been a lot of changes in the mindset of the players. I think all the credit goes to the coaching staff because of the way they are handling the players.
“They know that new players are also an important part of the team, not only the experienced players. Our coaching staff is treating every player equally and that is the change I feel,” he explained.
The shift in culture under Flower is now apparent. RCB has been experimenting with coaches who can help them achieve that elusive crown for years. He presented it to the RCB headquarters in Bengaluru twice in a row after they discovered the correct one.
