CHENNAI: Ahead of their opening match of the Indian Premier League 2021 season on Friday, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli gave a pep talk to his teammates, asking the new recruits to show intensity on the field even during practice sessions.
Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson and Daniel Christian are among the eight players that the Bengaluru franchise bought this season. Sachin Baby, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Rajat Patidar, Suyash Prabhudessai and K.S. Bharat are the others to join RCB this year.
“To all the new guys who have joined RCB — welcome to this amazing group of guys. As you know from the guys that have played here in the past, the atmosphere and the energy throughout the season will be amazing,” Kohli is seen telling his team members in a video posted by RCB on its Twitter handle.
“The only thing I expect from the guys is to make the most of the time spent of the field, whether it is practice sessions. Needless to mention, I expect guys to show intensity. That’s the way we have always played and that will not change,” Kohli added.
Kohli then touched on last year’s performance when they qualified for the playoffs of the eight-team tournament.
“Last year was a great step in the right direction for us and I feel like our squad is even stronger this year. I expect good things to happen again,” Kohli added.
“The focus [last year] was to make the most of the time we had, especially in our practice sessions. There was no mucking around, there was no wasting time. We were professionals in what we wanted to do and had a lot of fun as well through the season.”
“If we all believe together, we can do some really specials things this season. All of us should look forward to it. I certainly look forward to it. So let’s get off to a good start boys.”
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In Pics – Bio-bubbles, training sessions and the COVID scare: Build-up to IPL 2021
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The 14th edition of the world’s biggest T20 franchise cricket tournament — the Indian Premier League is all set to commence from April 9 with the defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the tournament opener in Chennai. (Photo credit: BCCI/IPL)
After conducting a successful 13th edition in the United Arab Emirates, the BCCI this time decided to go ahead with the tournament on home soil with 6 cities — Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, hosting the cricketing extravaganza. (Photo credit: BCCI/IPL)
The players from the 8 different franchises began assembling at the venues post March 20, while the members of Team India, who were engaged in a bilateral series with England only joined their franchises after wrapping up the series after March 28. (Photo credit: MI Twitter)
After completing the necessary quarantine periods, the players and support staff joined their respective bio-secure bubbles and began training for the fiercest T20 franchise battle.(Photo credit: RCB Twitter)
While MI, RCB, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders have current bio-bubbles setup in Chennai. KKR moved to Chennai from Mumbai where their initial bubble was created. The other four teams — Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings have their current bubbles in Mumbai for the first phase of the tournament. (Photo credit: CSK Twitter)
Maintaining mandatory Covid protocols, players began their hustle at the training facilities inside their bio-bubble while chalking out strategies with the support staff. (Photo credit: RR Twitter)
While Team India players had regular match practice — coming into the tournament after playing a couple of bilateral series — it was the domestic players, who had to sweat it out even more in the nets to get back into the groove for the tournament. Apart from the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy, domestic players were not exposed to much match practice in the past 6 months. (Photo credit: KKR Twitter)
While domestic Indian players, Team India and England internationals began their preparations, the other foreigners too steadily arrived in India. After completing their quarantine successfully they too joined their respective squads. (Photo credit: RCB Twitter)
Players flew in from all parts of the world — the Caribbean, Australia, England, Afghanistan, Bangladesh. A few international players (South Africa) left their international assignments midway to join their franchises in the IPL. (Photo credit: DC Twitter)
With a steep rise in COVID-19 cases across India, conducting this year’s IPL will not be an easy task for the BCCI. Positive cases in different franchises have put the organisers and owners on their toes. With a few ground staff members, players and support staff members returning positive test results, there is some amount of nervousness. The protocols in the bio-bubbles have been made stricter to try and ensure there are no more positive cases. (Photo credit: AFP)
While RCB’s Devdutt Padikkal contracted the virus before joining the team, MI’s scout and wicket-keeping consultant Kiran More tested positive for COVI-19 while being with the squad. DC’s Axar Patel and RCB’s Daniel Sams are the other players, who are currently battling the virus. KKR’s Nitish Rana also tested positive for the virus but joined the squad after testing negative. (Photo credit: BCCI/IPL)
Daniel Sams will in all probability miss RCB’s tournament opener against MI on April 9. DC’s Axar Patel is likely to miss Delhi’s first match on April 10 in Mumbai . Apart from them, a few foreign players too will be missing out on a couple of matches due to the quarantine policy but it is expected that all the 8 franchises will be at their full strength in the second week of the competition. (Photo credit: BCCI/IPL)
“I am backing you, the management is backing you. Players who have been selected, we believe they are going to contribute to the culture that RCB has, and to the plans that we’re going to execute on the field,” the RCB captain said.
