In the new era of sports, data has been absolutely pivotal and the kind of developments that the world has been witnessing in the last decade and half has been nothing short of a revolution. RCB’s Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, has been a man driven by numbers primarily but his ability to blend those hardcore digits with the human perspective of the game, sets him apart from the others.

Talking to ESPNCricinfo about RCB’s strategy going forward in deploying the data-based approach, Mo Bobat dropped a hint or two about how the Royal Challengers might just line up for the 2025 season. Apart from that, he also opened up on the greatness of Virat Kohli and how his experience changes the game on its head for any franchise whatsoever.

Underlining the importance of data, Mo Bobat said, “I don't fully agree with that. The precursor to your data is the vision and our vision is how we want to play. Now that could get overlooked once you get into the micro details of a single recruitment and this player over that player. We've spent a lot of time leaning on our own experiences of the past and the wisdom and experience of the people in our group, whether that be Andy as head coach or other coaches; DK, who's obviously got an influential role now. Even input from people like Virat as a senior player who's been retained - us all being aligned on how we want to play is the first thing.”

He further added, “And then once you've got that vision of how you want to play, you can afford to think about the various key roles in your team. So yes, we would have used data, but the only reason we would have used data as we did was: Andy and I are both pretty strong on evidence and rigour. And some decisions might lean towards our observations on the player, whether that be observations from our scouting team, from our coaches, and other elements that will lean quite heavily on data. And I would always say that no two selections are the same, or no two recruitments are the same.”

He then shifted his focus to Virat Kohli, stating, “Firstly, Virat's got a wealth of experience and incredibly high skill. I trust him to figure things out in the middle and to know what to do. You are right, last year, Virat and Faf [du Plessis] role-modelled brilliantly the intent that was required. Virat scored runs throughout the competition, even in that initial period when we weren't getting results. But even he, midway through, said, "Right, I'm going to lead the way here, we can all be more aggressive."

Bobat concluded by stating, “It was brilliant to see him talk that through with the rest of the batting group and back his words up with action. I've got no doubt that he'll want to maintain that moving forward. I certainly won't be, and Andy certainly won't be, sending the team out with somebody having the intent to drop anchor. That isn't what's required. We want to make the most of every delivery. Players can be trusted to assess the situation, the conditions out there, and Virat will be no different to anybody else.”