Dinesh Karthik and Mo Bobat explain RCB’s “interesting” dugout dynamics during IPL

Have you ever wondered how the team dugout decides which seats will be reserved for whom? Well, not all of it is pre-decided, but a few things are. And in the RCB dugout, Andy Flower, the head coach, Mo Bobat, the Director of Cricket, and Dinesh Karthik, the batting coach and mentor, have things fairly pre-decided.

Explaining the dugout dynamics on RCB’s Trophy Quest – The Second Act, Mo Bobat said, “All sports dugout, so benches are quite an interesting place. There's plenty of different ways to do it. RCB dugout, I think, is particularly interesting because it's a real mix of personalities and styles.”

Dinesh Karthik added, “Our dugout is very consistent, very fit. Mo at the top right corner, you can see actually. And then it's Andy, and then it's Malo, and then it's me. Next to me is Freddie, and then Omkar, and then towards the back end is Stick.”

Mo further shed some light on the seating arrangements, stating, “Andy and I try to hide in the dugout. That's one thing we try to do. We try to sit in the corner away from the camera, mainly because we want the dugout to feel like the players' environment. People probably notice DK is probably the most active in our dugout, but we've kind of given him that role and responsibility.”

DK chimed in further, stating, “I would like to think I'm probably the most energetic. I think more than energetic, I think the right word would be excited. I watch it with a very different lens to what others watch. Each one has their own way of watching it.”

Mo backed Karthik’s claim, stating, “DK's got so much experience and wisdom and intuition on the game, so we want to make use of that.”

Explaining how the messages travel to the players from the dugout, Dinesh Karthik added, “A lot of the tactical inputs are sent by me through one of the substitutes, with the blessings of Andy. And Mo is always listening to a lot of it, and if he feels at some stage, no, we don't probably need to be doing this, he'll challenge Andy on it. And Andy will take a moment to decide whether we need to go ahead with that input or not.”

Reflecting on how the team reacts to the messages, Mo added, “It helps that we've got a captain and vice-captain in Rajat and Jitesh who are very keen to have information. So that makes a big difference. They still know the decision that needs to be taken, whether it's a bowling change or a field change. It's their decision now in the middle. We're certainly not precious about them ignoring any of our advice or input. Yeah, they do a good job of filtering that information, probably discussing it with other senior players out on the field and then choosing their course of action.”

Dinesh Karthik concluded by citing an instance, quoting, “For example, in the final, in the first time out, Virat Kohli said, you know, they sent others back, I'm going to be here, not out. They just tell them to do their thing. That's the confidence with which he says it. In the KKR game as well, when he was batting, he said, don't worry, I'll get this job done. And that was the first time often he was chasing whatever we were chasing and he gets the job done. That's the
confidence you feel. I think we're relatively calm in the dugout. We certainly try not to ride the wins and the losses too much. I think if you stick to consistent processes regardless of the result, I think the players respond better to that.”