Focus on team balance, mental conditioning, and fun activities as Challengers get ready to come out of quarantine

Striking the right balance with the overseas cricketers while maintaining the faith in the young crop of the squad is going to be the focus of Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore this IPL season.

In a virtual media interaction organized by the RCB, head coach Simon Katich spoke at length about team’s approach this season, Virat Kohli’s observation about the team and how the team is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that everything is set right in place before the tournament begins.

"Once you see him [Kohli] up close and in person, you realise how calm and measured he is in terms of his thoughts to us with respect to the group [and] his knowledge of this group. "That's the beauty from our point of view. Coming into this group with a fresh set of eyes, we had our own opinions on the squad. Being able to get his insight and information on the squad was great." Katich said. 

Drawing the focus to the energy of the squad and how the team has made a conscious effort to strike a balance with regards to the overseas contingent, former Aussie cricketer said, “The other thing he's got is passion and energy for this group, a real affinity. If you look back at the auction, we retained a lot of players despite the last few seasons not going to plan. The biggest change we've made is more so from the overseas contingent to try and balance the team. From that point of view, there's a real belief from Virat that's directed to this group and his backing of the local boys. That's probably been the stand out thing for me.”

The team has hired a sports psychologist who is a part of the travelling contingent. With tournament being played under unprecedented times, the team understands the need of mental well-being of  cricketers, particularly those who are new to this level.

To ensure that the social distancing norms and strict guidelines don’t come in the way of effective communication among the players and the support staff, the franchise have also set up a digital platform where team members, coaches and support staff can interact.

Elaborating on how the franchise realized the importance of mental conditioning well in advance, director of cricket operations Mike Hesson said, "We actually identified the need to have some mental skills within our support staff well before the pandemic happened. We're sort of ahead of the curve in respect to that with Dr. Chaitanya Sridhar coming onboard in January. We identified this would be something we needed to work on even in a normal IPL. We are well covered in that space.”

“Yes, it's not just players, it is [also] the support staff being away from their loved ones for such a long time [that] it is challenging for families. We are very fortunate these days with respect to Zoom and so forth. People at home are supportive of the fact that we are here to do a job. We need to help each other along the way over the next three months - it'll be challenging times for everybody."

The six-month-long forced break has been a talking point coming into the UAE. The head coach understands the concerns but also added that the challenge is more at the mental level than anything else.

"This season presents a different challenge because the guys are jumping out of their skins, get out there, train and do their best after six months off. A number of overseas players have been training regularly in different parts of the world depending on the severity of lockdown.

"But this challenge is more mental because cricketers aren't used to having this much time off between games. The challenge is with younger players who are still learning their way and finding their routines. We have had to spend extra time over the last couple of months with them, using Dr Chaitanya Sridhar's expertise."

The players will be completing their mandatory quarantine on Thursday post which the plan is to organize different activities including net sessions, open wickets in the coming weeks at the ICC Academy in Dubai.

But it's not all work and no play for the Challengers, the team has also got some interesting basketball and tennis challenges included in the fun activities. The players will also have access to an exclusive team room with indoor facilities like PlayStation.

"We've got a few team activities in our sort of team room, a tennis court downstairs. There's going to be some football and table tennis, so a bit of a competition created,” confirmed Katich.

 "Obviously throughout the competition, we'll have our social groups and units to keep the camaraderie in the group together. Obviously being in a bubble will be a challenge. At the same time, we're also going to give the players the opportunity to make their own decision about how they socialise and things like that,” he added.

The team understands the importance of striking a balance during this hour. Playing in a tournament away from friends and families with minimal physical interaction with colleagues will come with its own challenges. But for now the RCB management has indicated that its ready to take them head on and make it all as normal as possible. 

“At the end of the day, it is a long time to be together and sometimes, it is important for people to have time to themselves to gather their thoughts and prepare for games. We'll have a mixture, it'll be a good balance,” assured Katich.