Sports news
#IPL #RCB #sheds #inhibitions #emerge #modern #T20 #behemoth">IPL 2026: RCB sheds old inhibitions to emerge as modern T20 behemoth In 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally shed its Indian Premier League (IPL) title drought. Rajat Patidar’s men have since begun the 2026 season with similar assurance, winning three of their first four matches.
Their 18-run win against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday was further evidence that a side long associated with on-field struggles has quietly transformed itself into a clinical and well-rounded T20 team.
Lessons from the past
It is easy to say in retrospect, but there were signs that RCB could turn its fabled fortunes around. The 2025 title win came after a mega-auction reset, but in the five preceding seasons (2020 to 2024), RCB qualified for the playoffs four times, building a base of consistency even without silverware.
The last of those playoff appearances, in 2024, came on the back of a borderline miraculous run. The side recovered from losing seven of its first eight league matches by winning its next six in a row to sneak into the final qualification spot, before losing the Eliminator to Rajasthan Royals.
That turnaround was driven by a clear shift in approach with the bat. Over that run, its run rate rose from 9.16 in the first eight matches to 10.23 in the final seven, while scoring rates across all three phases increased significantly.
More importantly, the middle-overs slowdown disappeared almost entirely, with batters continuing to attack and maintaining a far more even scoring pattern through the innings.
Life in the fast lane
Since 2025, the personnel have changed entirely, barring Virat Kohli and Patidar, but the attacking intent has not waned. RCB has struck at 9.63 with the bat and maintained a consistent scoring rate throughout the innings.
(insert – )
While none of its phase-wise run rates — 9.36 in the PowerPlay, 9.04 in the middle overs, and 11.42 at the death — are the very best in the league, they all rank in the top half, underlining the consistency of the batting unit.
Leading the way is the opening pair of Phil Salt and Kohli. Salt, picked for Rs. 11.50 crore after his performances in Kolkata Knight Riders’ 2024 title-winning campaign, is one of the most aggressive PowerPlay batters in world cricket. He complements the more measured Kohli, who has nevertheless found an extra gear.
Together, the pair has put on 731 runs (the third-most of any opening pair) at an average of 43 and a run rate of 10.34 since the start of 2025, combining volume with tempo to give RCB a strong platform.
Unlike the RCB sides of the past, the burden of run-scoring has not rested on a handful of players. Over the 2025 season, 10 different batters have scored half-centuries for the team.
Equally impressively, among frontline batters who have faced at least 10 balls since the start of the 2025 season, all but two have struck at over 140.
(insert – )
RCB’s batting line-up has thus been remodelled into one that bats deep, scores quickly, and produces contributions across the order. Perhaps more significantly, RCB has shown early signs of correcting a key weakness. In 2025, it won seven of eight matches while chasing, compared to five in eight batting first; in 2026, two of its three wins have already come while setting a target.
The early bird gets the worm
If the batting has been solid without being exceptional, the bowling in the PowerPlay has been dominant. No team has taken more wickets in the first six overs than RCB’s 34. It also leads in average (30.94), strike rate (20.1), and dot-ball percentage (45.1%), while ranking second in economy (9.22).
This dominance is driven by the pairing of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who account for 20 of those 34 wickets. Interestingly, for two bowlers known for extracting movement with the new ball, their best work has come in the latter half of the PowerPlay.
(insert – )
Twelve of those wickets have come in that phase, and the team’s 18 wickets between overs four and six are comfortably the best in the league.
Those early breakthroughs have often dented top-heavy batting units and set the stage for the spinners through the middle overs. While RCB’s spinners take relatively fewer wickets, they have been effective, as seen in Krunal Pandya’s three-wicket haul in the 2025 final against Punjab Kings.
Sharing the experience around
After the 2025 mega-auction, RCB released videos outlining its strategy. In one of them, Director of Cricket Mo Bobat spoke about prioritising spending on the starting XII and building a strong Indian core.
That approach aligned with a broader trend: experienced teams tend to win IPL finals. Since 2022, only two players in their maiden IPL season have featured for a title-winning side in a final.
RCB also identified a lack of experience in its Indian contingent in 2024, with Kohli and Dinesh Karthik accounting for 65 per cent of the IPL caps among Indian players.
The auction strategy reflected that insight. The franchise invested heavily in an Indian core, bringing in Bhuvneshwar (Rs. 10.75 crore), Krunal (Rs. 5.75 crore), Jitesh Sharma (Rs. 11 crore), and Devdutt Padikkal (Rs. 2 crore).
None of them dominated pre-auction chatter, and even the most expensive among them went for less than half of what Rishabh Pant commanded. Despite entering the auction with the second-highest purse (Rs. 83 crore), RCB signed just one marquee player.
Yet, this group proved crucial in raising the team’s floor, using experience and clarity to bridge the gap between its best and worst performances, a long-standing issue for the franchise. Each also delivered match-winning contributions at key moments.
A well-constructed T20 team
Everything came together on that night at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The planning, clarity, and execution aligned as RCB emerged as IPL champion for the first time.
Beyond the narrative of a drought ending, this is also a story of how a well-constructed team, built on sound principles and a clear understanding of modern T20 cricket, came into being.
Published on Apr 13, 2026
In 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally shed its Indian Premier League (IPL) title drought.…
Sports news
#IPL #RCB #sheds #inhibitions #emerge #modern #T20 #behemoth">IPL 2026: RCB sheds old inhibitions to emerge as modern T20 behemoth
In 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally shed its Indian Premier League (IPL) title drought. Rajat Patidar’s men have since begun the 2026 season with similar assurance, winning three of their first four matches.
Their 18-run win against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday was further evidence that a side long associated with on-field struggles has quietly transformed itself into a clinical and well-rounded T20 team.
Lessons from the past
It is easy to say in retrospect, but there were signs that RCB could turn its fabled fortunes around. The 2025 title win came after a mega-auction reset, but in the five preceding seasons (2020 to 2024), RCB qualified for the playoffs four times, building a base of consistency even without silverware.
The last of those playoff appearances, in 2024, came on the back of a borderline miraculous run. The side recovered from losing seven of its first eight league matches by winning its next six in a row to sneak into the final qualification spot, before losing the Eliminator to Rajasthan Royals.
That turnaround was driven by a clear shift in approach with the bat. Over that run, its run rate rose from 9.16 in the first eight matches to 10.23 in the final seven, while scoring rates across all three phases increased significantly.
More importantly, the middle-overs slowdown disappeared almost entirely, with batters continuing to attack and maintaining a far more even scoring pattern through the innings.
Life in the fast lane
Since 2025, the personnel have changed entirely, barring Virat Kohli and Patidar, but the attacking intent has not waned. RCB has struck at 9.63 with the bat and maintained a consistent scoring rate throughout the innings.
(insert – )
While none of its phase-wise run rates — 9.36 in the PowerPlay, 9.04 in the middle overs, and 11.42 at the death — are the very best in the league, they all rank in the top half, underlining the consistency of the batting unit.
Leading the way is the opening pair of Phil Salt and Kohli. Salt, picked for Rs. 11.50 crore after his performances in Kolkata Knight Riders’ 2024 title-winning campaign, is one of the most aggressive PowerPlay batters in world cricket. He complements the more measured Kohli, who has nevertheless found an extra gear.
Together, the pair has put on 731 runs (the third-most of any opening pair) at an average of 43 and a run rate of 10.34 since the start of 2025, combining volume with tempo to give RCB a strong platform.
Unlike the RCB sides of the past, the burden of run-scoring has not rested on a handful of players. Over the 2025 season, 10 different batters have scored half-centuries for the team.
Equally impressively, among frontline batters who have faced at least 10 balls since the start of the 2025 season, all but two have struck at over 140.
(insert – )
RCB’s batting line-up has thus been remodelled into one that bats deep, scores quickly, and produces contributions across the order. Perhaps more significantly, RCB has shown early signs of correcting a key weakness. In 2025, it won seven of eight matches while chasing, compared to five in eight batting first; in 2026, two of its three wins have already come while setting a target.
The early bird gets the worm
If the batting has been solid without being exceptional, the bowling in the PowerPlay has been dominant. No team has taken more wickets in the first six overs than RCB’s 34. It also leads in average (30.94), strike rate (20.1), and dot-ball percentage (45.1%), while ranking second in economy (9.22).
This dominance is driven by the pairing of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who account for 20 of those 34 wickets. Interestingly, for two bowlers known for extracting movement with the new ball, their best work has come in the latter half of the PowerPlay.
(insert – )
Twelve of those wickets have come in that phase, and the team’s 18 wickets between overs four and six are comfortably the best in the league.
Those early breakthroughs have often dented top-heavy batting units and set the stage for the spinners through the middle overs. While RCB’s spinners take relatively fewer wickets, they have been effective, as seen in Krunal Pandya’s three-wicket haul in the 2025 final against Punjab Kings.
Sharing the experience around
After the 2025 mega-auction, RCB released videos outlining its strategy. In one of them, Director of Cricket Mo Bobat spoke about prioritising spending on the starting XII and building a strong Indian core.
That approach aligned with a broader trend: experienced teams tend to win IPL finals. Since 2022, only two players in their maiden IPL season have featured for a title-winning side in a final.
RCB also identified a lack of experience in its Indian contingent in 2024, with Kohli and Dinesh Karthik accounting for 65 per cent of the IPL caps among Indian players.
The auction strategy reflected that insight. The franchise invested heavily in an Indian core, bringing in Bhuvneshwar (Rs. 10.75 crore), Krunal (Rs. 5.75 crore), Jitesh Sharma (Rs. 11 crore), and Devdutt Padikkal (Rs. 2 crore).
None of them dominated pre-auction chatter, and even the most expensive among them went for less than half of what Rishabh Pant commanded. Despite entering the auction with the second-highest purse (Rs. 83 crore), RCB signed just one marquee player.
Yet, this group proved crucial in raising the team’s floor, using experience and clarity to bridge the gap between its best and worst performances, a long-standing issue for the franchise. Each also delivered match-winning contributions at key moments.
A well-constructed T20 team
Everything came together on that night at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The planning, clarity, and execution aligned as RCB emerged as IPL champion for the first time.
Beyond the narrative of a drought ending, this is also a story of how a well-constructed team, built on sound principles and a clear understanding of modern T20 cricket, came into being.
Published on Apr 13, 2026
In 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally shed its Indian Premier League (IPL) title drought. Rajat Patidar’s men have since begun the 2026 season with similar assurance, winning three of their first four matches.
Their 18-run win against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday was further evidence that a side long associated with on-field struggles has quietly transformed itself into a clinical and well-rounded T20 team.
Lessons from the past
It is easy to say in retrospect, but there were signs that RCB could turn its fabled fortunes around. The 2025 title win came after a mega-auction reset, but in the five preceding seasons (2020 to 2024), RCB qualified for the playoffs four times, building a base of consistency even without silverware.
The last of those playoff appearances, in 2024, came on the back of a borderline miraculous run. The side recovered from losing seven of its first eight league matches by winning its next six in a row to sneak into the final qualification spot, before losing the Eliminator to Rajasthan Royals.
That turnaround was driven by a clear shift in approach with the bat. Over that run, its run rate rose from 9.16 in the first eight matches to 10.23 in the final seven, while scoring rates across all three phases increased significantly.
More importantly, the middle-overs slowdown disappeared almost entirely, with batters continuing to attack and maintaining a far more even scoring pattern through the innings.
Life in the fast lane
Since 2025, the personnel have changed entirely, barring Virat Kohli and Patidar, but the attacking intent has not waned. RCB has struck at 9.63 with the bat and maintained a consistent scoring rate throughout the innings.
(insert – )
While none of its phase-wise run rates — 9.36 in the PowerPlay, 9.04 in the middle overs, and 11.42 at the death — are the very best in the league, they all rank in the top half, underlining the consistency of the batting unit.
Leading the way is the opening pair of Phil Salt and Kohli. Salt, picked for Rs. 11.50 crore after his performances in Kolkata Knight Riders’ 2024 title-winning campaign, is one of the most aggressive PowerPlay batters in world cricket. He complements the more measured Kohli, who has nevertheless found an extra gear.
Together, the pair has put on 731 runs (the third-most of any opening pair) at an average of 43 and a run rate of 10.34 since the start of 2025, combining volume with tempo to give RCB a strong platform.
Unlike the RCB sides of the past, the burden of run-scoring has not rested on a handful of players. Over the 2025 season, 10 different batters have scored half-centuries for the team.
Equally impressively, among frontline batters who have faced at least 10 balls since the start of the 2025 season, all but two have struck at over 140.
(insert – )
RCB’s batting line-up has thus been remodelled into one that bats deep, scores quickly, and produces contributions across the order. Perhaps more significantly, RCB has shown early signs of correcting a key weakness. In 2025, it won seven of eight matches while chasing, compared to five in eight batting first; in 2026, two of its three wins have already come while setting a target.
The early bird gets the worm
If the batting has been solid without being exceptional, the bowling in the PowerPlay has been dominant. No team has taken more wickets in the first six overs than RCB’s 34. It also leads in average (30.94), strike rate (20.1), and dot-ball percentage (45.1%), while ranking second in economy (9.22).
This dominance is driven by the pairing of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who account for 20 of those 34 wickets. Interestingly, for two bowlers known for extracting movement with the new ball, their best work has come in the latter half of the PowerPlay.
(insert – )
Twelve of those wickets have come in that phase, and the team’s 18 wickets between overs four and six are comfortably the best in the league.
Those early breakthroughs have often dented top-heavy batting units and set the stage for the spinners through the middle overs. While RCB’s spinners take relatively fewer wickets, they have been effective, as seen in Krunal Pandya’s three-wicket haul in the 2025 final against Punjab Kings.
Sharing the experience around
After the 2025 mega-auction, RCB released videos outlining its strategy. In one of them, Director of Cricket Mo Bobat spoke about prioritising spending on the starting XII and building a strong Indian core.
That approach aligned with a broader trend: experienced teams tend to win IPL finals. Since 2022, only two players in their maiden IPL season have featured for a title-winning side in a final.
RCB also identified a lack of experience in its Indian contingent in 2024, with Kohli and Dinesh Karthik accounting for 65 per cent of the IPL caps among Indian players.
The auction strategy reflected that insight. The franchise invested heavily in an Indian core, bringing in Bhuvneshwar (Rs. 10.75 crore), Krunal (Rs. 5.75 crore), Jitesh Sharma (Rs. 11 crore), and Devdutt Padikkal (Rs. 2 crore).
None of them dominated pre-auction chatter, and even the most expensive among them went for less than half of what Rishabh Pant commanded. Despite entering the auction with the second-highest purse (Rs. 83 crore), RCB signed just one marquee player.
Yet, this group proved crucial in raising the team’s floor, using experience and clarity to bridge the gap between its best and worst performances, a long-standing issue for the franchise. Each also delivered match-winning contributions at key moments.
A well-constructed T20 team
Everything came together on that night at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The planning, clarity, and execution aligned as RCB emerged as IPL champion for the first time.
Beyond the narrative of a drought ending, this is also a story of how a well-constructed team, built on sound principles and a clear understanding of modern T20 cricket, came into being.
Published on Apr 13, 2026
In 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally shed its Indian Premier League (IPL) title drought.…
Sports news
#Krunal #Pandya #dont #preplan #practise #bouncers #rely #gut #feeling">Krunal Pandya: I don’t pre-plan or practise my bouncers but rely on gut feeling
Soon after checking into the team hotel in Mumbai on Saturday, Krunal Pandya settled into a chair and briefed his hairstylist to “do something different”.
After all, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder was gearing up to face his alma mater — and a side led by his younger brother.
The makeover took 90 minutes, and the result — call it what you will — certainly stood out. It drew curious glances from opponents and fans alike. But while the hairstyle grabbed eyeballs, it was Krunal’s on-field craft that truly made a statement.
Greeting Hardik Pandya with a surprise bouncer, mixing slinging deliveries with his conventional left-arm spin, and varying his pace cleverly, Krunal showcased his uncanny knack for improvisation. His spell of 4-0-26-1 ensured Mumbai Indians was never really in the hunt while chasing the stiff 241-run target set by RCB at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday night.
“I have never shied away from trying different and new things. With the Impact Player rule, previously, without an impact player, you had No. 6 and No. 7 as all-rounders. Batsmanship was quite different, but now, having eight pure batters plus the skill set. You see young boys like Mukul (Choudhary), Vaibhav (Suryavanshi), so many of them are just coming and hitting from ball one consistently.”
Krunal admitted that evolving his skill set has helped him retain relevance in a format increasingly tilted towards the batters.
“As a bowler, I always want to be one step ahead with the skill set as well as with the mental battle. It (variation) has just purely come from that. Whether it is me bending my knee and bowling that ball or a bouncer,” Krunal said.
“I am glad that it is coming out well and hope that in this format, there are finger spinners who will survive and who can take something out of it and do well in this format. Because, for a finger spinner with flat tracks, eight batters, it has become very difficult. I am glad that I have been able to contribute in a nice way.”
The 35-year-old, the only cricketer to win the Player of the Match award in an IPL final twice, also revealed that the bouncer is more instinct than strategy.
“I am someone who follows my gut. I don’t pre-plan that I want to bowl a fourth or fifth, or sixth ball a bouncer. There are days when I will bowl two bouncers back-to-back, and suddenly I will bowl the first ball and the sixth ball. So, there are no such plans, but it is more sort of a gut feeling when to bowl which ball, and I just commit 100 per cent to that,” Krunal said.
“I don’t practise that much, where I go and practise bowling bouncers. It is just that I actually bowl in the game. But yeah, I have been bowling consistently for a long period of time.”
As long as Krunal continues to blend artistry with adaptability, RCB — and perhaps even the fans — won’t mind more “different” hairstyles.
Published on Apr 13, 2026
Soon after checking into the team hotel in Mumbai on Saturday, Krunal Pandya settled into a chair and briefed his hairstylist to “do something different”.
After all, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder was gearing up to face his alma mater — and a side led by his younger brother.
The makeover took 90 minutes, and the result — call it what you will — certainly stood out. It drew curious glances from opponents and fans alike. But while the hairstyle grabbed eyeballs, it was Krunal’s on-field craft that truly made a statement.
Greeting Hardik Pandya with a surprise bouncer, mixing slinging deliveries with his conventional left-arm spin, and varying his pace cleverly, Krunal showcased his uncanny knack for improvisation. His spell of 4-0-26-1 ensured Mumbai Indians was never really in the hunt while chasing the stiff 241-run target set by RCB at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday night.
“I have never shied away from trying different and new things. With the Impact Player rule, previously, without an impact player, you had No. 6 and No. 7 as all-rounders. Batsmanship was quite different, but now, having eight pure batters plus the skill set. You see young boys like Mukul (Choudhary), Vaibhav (Suryavanshi), so many of them are just coming and hitting from ball one consistently.”
Krunal admitted that evolving his skill set has helped him retain relevance in a format increasingly tilted towards the batters.
“As a bowler, I always want to be one step ahead with the skill set as well as with the mental battle. It (variation) has just purely come from that. Whether it is me bending my knee and bowling that ball or a bouncer,” Krunal said.
“I am glad that it is coming out well and hope that in this format, there are finger spinners who will survive and who can take something out of it and do well in this format. Because, for a finger spinner with flat tracks, eight batters, it has become very difficult. I am glad that I have been able to contribute in a nice way.”
The 35-year-old, the only cricketer to win the Player of the Match award in an IPL final twice, also revealed that the bouncer is more instinct than strategy.
“I am someone who follows my gut. I don’t pre-plan that I want to bowl a fourth or fifth, or sixth ball a bouncer. There are days when I will bowl two bouncers back-to-back, and suddenly I will bowl the first ball and the sixth ball. So, there are no such plans, but it is more sort of a gut feeling when to bowl which ball, and I just commit 100 per cent to that,” Krunal said.
“I don’t practise that much, where I go and practise bowling bouncers. It is just that I actually bowl in the game. But yeah, I have been bowling consistently for a long period of time.”
As long as Krunal continues to blend artistry with adaptability, RCB — and perhaps even the fans — won’t mind more “different” hairstyles.
Published on Apr 13, 2026
Soon after checking into the team hotel in Mumbai on Saturday, Krunal Pandya settled into…
