RCB members react after first training session
Despite the schedule of the Indian Premier League (IPL) not being announced with the tournament set to start in just over a fortnight’s time, RCB have hit the training ground already. The players and staff members have completed the prescribed bio-secure protocols and have entered the bio-bubble, having successfully completed their quarantine period.
AB de Villiers, RCB top-order batsman, gave his insights after attending his first net session. He said on a video posted on RCB’s YouTube channel, “It was really good, very enjoyable to be out there. The lights were a bit blurry and the wicket was a bit sticky, so it was a great challenge. It was like how I’d like my first net to be after a long time.”
“I had my basics in place, I had to watch the ball carefully. I hit some nice shots at the end which was also enjoyable. You need intensity when you practice, and that’s what I do.”
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RCB strength and conditioning coach Shanker Basu said, “There are three things we have to be mindful. One the players are coming after a long time and they will be ready to jump and go gung ho and it is our job to pull them back a little.
“Number two, there is oppressive heat and that can be a telling thing, most importantly we need to find the right balance in the gym. From now onwards, it should just aid the skill part.”
AB de Villiers donning the big gloves
De Villiers was seen taking the gloves in the nets as well, indicating a possibility of him keeping wickets for RCB this year. That would jeopardize Parthiv Patel’s spot in the side, who despite being decent with the bat last year, was mainly picked in the XI for his keeping. It might also open the doors for local left-hander Devdutt Padikkal, who has been nothing short of a revelation from the Karnataka Premier League.
Parthiv Patel, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Indian skipper Virat Kohli, South African pace ace Dale Steyn, Bengal all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, and Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal were the players to have attended the first net session.
RCB skipper Virat Kohli said, “(It went) much better than expected, to be honest. I was pretty scared. I hadn’t picked up a bat for five months, but yeah it came out better than I thought, to be honest.”
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RCB team director Mike Hesson was recently asked whether Virat Kohli and Aaron Finch will be opening together for RCB this season. In his response, Hesson said in a video uploaded on the Twitter handle of the RCB, “It’s really interesting, I did a couple of hours of press conference but never talked about where Virat is batting or where Aaron finch is gonna bat or they’re opening the batting together. In reality from a director or coach point of view, we wouldn’t wanna tell anybody exactly what our line-up is because that’s our strategy.”
“We wanna keep some of those things up our sleeves in terms of where we use players. We know we’re going to be asked many questions about who’s going to bat where… You just have to wait,” he added.