Royal Challengers Bangalore, the side that has not had a great deal of success in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the years is ready with the right mix of youth, experience, foreign and domestic players, feels coach Simon Katich. Talking about the mini-auction and the team’s development ahead of the new season, Katich said that keeping the core group of Indian talent was their priority.
“We made a conscious effort to try and keep the core of the group together. We got to the playoffs after a lot of years and we kept backing a lot of Indian talent, which helped us in getting there,” he said in a video uploaded by the RCB on their official Twitter account.
Stating that they have kept the guys they backed last year and are expecting the returns from them, Katich said, “We backed young [Devdutt] Padikkal who had never played IPL and he didn’t let us down. We backed Washington Sundar and played him a full season and he went on to play great cricket for India in the next six month. We also backed young [Mohammed] Siraj and [Navdeep] Saini. These four young Indian players there are the ones that we backed and gave full playing time.”
The role of the experience was also highlighted by the former Australian Test opener as he counted on the likes of skipper Virat Kohli and senior men Yuzvendar Chahal and AB de Villiers alongside new recruits Glenn Maxwell and Dan Christian to get them over the line this time around.
“Of course with Chahal and Virat, the experience is there and the core of the Indian players is maintained. There was some rejig no doubt, but ultimately we are happy with the team that we have got at the display. And with Maxwell and Dan Christian coming in, we are high on experience as well,” said the 45-year-old.
The Challengers play their first game against Mumbai Indians, which will also be the first game of the IPL 2021 and would take place at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.