Defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) get the 2026 season underway against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28 (Saturday). If RCB are to defend the title, Virat Kohli’s form is going to be crucial. Head coach Andy Flower reckons Kohli has been as good as ever in the lead-up to the tournament and is ready to make a fresh start to the season.
“Virat is in a really good space mentally. He’s very comfortable with himself but still incredibly hungry and watching him strike the ball in training, he looks at the peak of his powers,” Flower ahead of the season opener.
Flower also confirmed Josh Hazlewood has arrived, joined the squad and will be available for selection soon, but not fit enough to take on SRH on Saturday.
“Hazlewood arrived yesterday and he’s looking fit. It’s great to have him back around the dressing room and involved in our meetings again. He won’t be ready for tomorrow because he’s just arrived, but we’ll monitor his fitness closely and we’re looking forward to him making his entrance into the IPL soon,” he said.
The former Zimbabwe skipper also praised skipper Rajat Patidar and his deputy Jitesh Sharma for the way they have led the team so far. Patidar helped RCB to glory in his very first season as captain.
“It’s pretty amazing that in Rajat’s first year of captaincy he led RCB to the trophy. He’s a very likeable man and he’s well respected in the dressing room. He stays nice and calm, which the bowlers really appreciate. Jitesh is a very good deputy as well. He’s energetic, tactically aware and sees a lot of the game from behind the stumps, so having those two working together around the square is valuable for the team,” Flower said.
RCB lost their first three matches at home and Flower believes that the team has learnt from that experience and have a better understanding of how to go about things this time.
“We lost our first three matches at Chinnaswamy last year and we learned from those experiences. Conditions might be slightly different this time as well, so we’ll have to assess that. But at your home venue, you should have a better understanding of the nuances of the conditions than your opposition. We’ve been practising here and talking a lot about those aspects, so I’d like to think we’ll be slightly ahead of the opposition on our own surface,” he said.
After their opening game against SRH, RCB take on CSK in their second fixture on April 5 in Bengaluru.
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