Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Though an IPL title has eluded Virat Kohli yet again, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) coach Andy Flower praised the talismanic batter for striving to evolve his game despite boasting of an incredible batting record.
RCB were knocked out for IPL 2024 playoffs after losing to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, with a distraught Kohli seen taking off the bails after the game was over. Kohli is leading IPL 2024 batting charts with 741 runs, including a century and five fifties, but failed to get his hands on the elusive IPL trophy.
“Working in the same dressing room with him has been a real pleasure actually. As an ex-batsman, it’s been an absolute pleasure to watch him bat. The way he thinks about the game and he backs that up with an amazing level of skill and aggression and hunger.
“It’s been a real pleasure to watch and I look forward to watching him in the World Cup. It’s amazing that he’s still evolving his game even though he’s got an incredible record already, an incredible base to what he’s done. He’s even developing his game further which I think is a great testament to him,” said Flower in the post-match press conference.
After being at bottom of the points table through just one win from seven games, RCB had six successive victories to enter the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons. With a mega auction expected to happen next year, Flower also spoke about RCB needing to buy highly skillful bowlers who can perform well in the smaller boundaries of their home venue, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“I think our guys have fought brilliantly over the last 10 weeks to come back from our first half of the tournament was a great effort and I certainly would pay tribute to Faf du Plessis for his captaincy and Faf and Virat for the way they’ve led from the front as role models and professional sports people.”
“But also the way they’ve played. They both really been great role models for everyone else and the rest of the boys fought really hard to get us back into the tournament. “As far as recruitment for next year, it’s a bit early to talk about that. Quite frankly, I don’t want to talk about that yet.”
“I do think though the Chinnaswamy has some particular qualities that we need to be able to exploit. You certainly need highly skillful bowlers at Chinnaswamy. Simply pace is not going to be the answer there. You need skillful, intelligent bowlers and people that can bowl to really specific plans at Chinnaswamy.”
“And I think we’ve all seen how the power game has affected T20 cricket recently. So on the batting front, you certainly need to recruit batsmen with that sort of power that can keep up that sort of tempo,” he elaborated.
In the Eliminator, RCB also missed out on the services of Will Jacks, who began RCB’s resurgence run with a 41-ball ton against Gujarat Titans, as he flew back to England for Men’s T20 World Cup preparations via the four-game series against Pakistan.
“It is a bit of a problem that the cricket world and the cricket calendar has at the moment. We saw at the Big Bash recently, a lot of the overseas players left before the playoffs and the finals so it really devalued the tournament to a certain extent.”
“You saw in the ILT20 as well, you saw a lot of coming and going with people that had finished in the SA20 and then came in even just for the finals of the ILT20. I think competitions have to be careful about that because the integrity of the competition is really important.”
“With a World Cup just around the corner, it’s very difficult. I completely understand why England wanted to recall those players. If I were England coach, I think I will be doing the same. So there are conundrums for the game that have to be ironed out. I’m not sure how with the busy-ness of the calendar at the moment. But it is a pity.”
“Will Jacks really hit his straps with us. He enjoyed the tournament with us and we enjoyed his power at No. 3 obviously. And it was a pity not to have him. But Cameron Green stepped into those shoes and did really well for us, batting in a preferred position for him actually. At the moment that’s something I can’t control so we just try to make the best of it,” stated Flower.
He signed off by conceding veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik possibly played his IPL final game, as he led the team out of the field after the match ended. “He has been an absolute pleasure to work with. I have never worked with him that closely before. I remember meeting him properly when I was the England coach, and he was playing for India.
“We had some really interesting chats about batting at Lord’s and I really liked him then. After working with him this season, I like him and respect him even more. He has been sensational. He hadn’t played a lot of cricket leading up to the tournament and what he has done for us – runs and attitude wise and contributing to the team in the dressing room and on the field – has been really special and I respect him for that.
“He is a brilliant commentator already, and I think he quite likes the idea of coaching as well, working with and helping people which I’m not surprised about. I think he will be a great success when he does that. I also think he might play just a few more little tournaments along the way. Lot’s of respect to him.”
