Ahmedabad, June 1 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower said the biggest difference between the 2025 and 2026 title winning campaigns was the ‘deeper level of confidence’ within the squad this year, while acknowledging the lessons of 2024 season also immensely shaped their pursuits of being a trophy winning team.
Having won their first IPL title in 2025 and break an 18-year drought in process, RCB joined the likes of Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians as the third team in the IPL to win the tournament successively. If the 2025 win had tons of emotions around, the 2026 triumph was the sign of a confident unit completing the job of defending the title in clinical fashion.
“There are definite differences between 2025 and 2026 campaigns. But I would also mention the 2024 season, because that was instrumental in setting our determination to do things a little bit differently. The very tough first half of 2024 gave us real clarity about certain strategic things that we wanted to employ, and it gave us the courage through almost through desperation to take those measures.
“Then we’ve had 2025 where we were walking into the unknown a little. As RCB had never won the title before, so there was a lot of tension and uncertainty around getting into playoffs and then obviously lifting the trophy. This year has felt a little bit different. I think there’s a deeper level of confidence in our squad.
“Our squad contains a number of very experienced and very successful cricketers, and having the likes of Virat and Bhuvi and Hazelwood and KP in that squad makes it a lot easier for us, the coaching and management team. So that deeper level of confidence after lifting last year’s trophy certainly made this year feel slightly different.
“Didn’t make it any easier, but certainly going into playoffs, there was a deeper level of confidence, I think, in the squad, which you may have seen in some of the performances. So they felt very different, but both very satisfying from a professional point and personal point of view,” Flower said in a virtual press conference on Monday.
Asked on how he’s been influential in keeping the RCB culture going for three seasons, including spending more time with the players who didn’t get much game time in the high-pressure tournament, Flower explained, “There are always challenges and a long list of them – you’ve got a big squad of players to look after. You’ve got obviously a variety of different people to gather together and get them heading in one direction. You’ve got young and old, experienced and inexperienced, different nationalities.
“So, from a professional point of view, it’s a really fascinating challenge to get a group of such different characters together and make them cohesive around the task of taking on these other excellent franchises. So, Mo (Bobat, RCB Director of Cricket) and I both really like those challenges. The cultural part around the players that didn’t play or didn’t play much is a really important part of – I’m reticent to say only the success of a cricket squad or a franchise, but more about the feeling that is generated within that group.
“It’s really important to look after people and I’ve learned those lessons over the years, particularly as a young head coach, how important that is. Those players that aren’t playing all the time, they still need to feel valued and also feel as if they’re progressing themselves. I think one of the biggest drivers in the human condition is to feel as if you’re making progress in the world.
“We want everyone that’s sitting out and not getting the opportunity to showcase what they can do in match situations. We want them also to feel as if they are developing themselves. So, we put as much energy as possible into looking after those players as well. It’s not easy because you do have to prioritize those 12 players that are taking the field every few days.
“But it was lovely to see some young players like Vihaan Malhotra and Kanishk Chouhan come from India under‑19s. I watched them during the Under‑19 World Cup where I was commentating. It was lovely to see them go about their business, work at improving themselves. They were listening and watching people like Virat go about their business and you can learn lessons in that sort of environment if you’re open to progress and they were,” he said.
Flower also gave the example of India batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer of a player who didn’t get game time initially, but made his chances count whenever the combination changed. With a finger injury keeping Phil Salt out, Iyer seamlessly fitted into opening the batting alongside Virat Kohli and hit 209 runs in seven games, including giving a fast start in the final.
“But the best example, I think, of people sitting out and making sure that they were ready to contribute to the overall cause was Venkatesh Iyer. He sat out after all his experiences, winning IPLs and playing for India. He had to sit out and be really patient and make sure that he was ready to contribute when he got the chance.
“He never knew when or if that chance was going to come. When it did come, each time he made contributions. It was such a wonderful example of a mature young man being humble enough to take the bad news on the chin that he wasn’t going to get initial opportunities, but to make sure that he was competitive and ready when he got the chance and that’s what he did.
“He was a big contributing factor to us closing out this tournament. So you rightly focus on a really important part of the franchise cricket world, that sort of environment that we operate in for 10 or 11 weeks of the year and we work hard at trying to get that as right as you can. You can’t be perfect, but you do your best to get it as right as you can,” he added.
Flower further said the confidence gained from last year’s breakthrough title was visible in the squad’s composure this season. “Well, I’m glad that it’s observable. Sometimes when you’re actually in the dressing room or in the dugout or in the training area, you’re getting a very close‑up view of stuff. But it’s nice to see, it’s nice to hear that even from an external viewpoint, you’re seeing that level of confidence.
“I alluded to it a little earlier – there was a little more jeopardy and uncertainty around last year’s title chase and after winning the trophy last year, and then after playing some outstanding cricket through the group phase this year, our confidence levels have increased. It’s also fair to say that you didn’t observe many nerves.
“There would have been a lot of nervous people in our dressing room, in our dugout. I was certainly one of them, but that deeper level of confidence that comes from testing yourselves against good opposition or in challenging circumstances, and proving to yourself or proving to yourselves as a group that you are not only able to handle whatever’s thrown at you.
“But you’re able to thrive in that high‑pressure environment and that produces real confidence. You saw and you would have observed some of that. The other thing about our group feeling confident is we’ve got some characters in our dressing room that inspire that level of calmness and confidence. We’ve spoken at length about Virat already today, but bowlers like Hazelwood, Bhuvi and KP, those guys are calm under pressure.
“The pressure in the IPL is similar to the pressure that you would experience in the playoff stages of World Cups or in Big Ashes matches. Having people there that have been there and done it before, come through in adversity before, those are deeper, stronger levels of confidence than you might have in other individuals that hadn’t had those experiences before.
“So we’re lucky to have some of the personnel in our dressing room, and we’re lucky that they can influence the group in such a calm and positive manner. Bhuvi has been outstanding for these last two seasons, and it’s arguable that we wouldn’t have had our success at all over the last two seasons if he hadn’t been producing performances under pressure repeatedly that he’s done over the last two seasons.
“Hazelwood’s the same, and we’ve seen what KP’s done. KP’s level of confidence, you could easily just attribute it to, he’s had five IPL wins in 11 seasons. How amazing is that for different teams? So I think that’s what you’re observing, and we’d like to build on that for the next season as well,” he concluded.
–IANS
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