RCB head coach Simon Katich heaps praise on Virat Kohli the leader

The Dream11 2020 season for RCB may not have ended as they would have wished, but there were enough positives to take away from a season littered with a fresh approach that saw the team winning 7 of its first 10 games. The refreshed support staff with Simon Katich and Mike Hesson at the helm had shifted focus from winning to the process itself. The management worked well as a unit with Captain Kohli, and the results were evident on the field as well.

With the tournament having ended, the Royal Challengers Bangalore head coach Simon Katich has heaped praise on Virat Kohli’s captaincy, and the mentorship role he played in the dressing room as a vital part of the team’s showing which saw RCB finishing in the top four after a 3-year wait.

"We're very fortunate to have spent these last 11 weeks working with him and I think what we've seen is someone that's highly professional, someone that's very, very well-respected by the group here, and not just for what he does on the field," said Katich during a media interaction. "I think his time around the group - both he and his wife Anushka [Sharma] spent a lot of time around the group, in the team room, and socializing with everyone - and what we saw, we saw someone that is very invested in this group, spent a lot of time with the younger players.”

Another key aspect of his role as a senior member of the squad was Virat Kohli mentoring the young, and now the Emerging player of the tournament, Devdutt Padikkal. "We paired him up with young Padikkal as a mentor, and we saw the growth in him throughout the tournament, having that time speaking batting with Virat Kohli is invaluable for his growth, and that's the side a lot of people don't see with Virat,” reminded Katich.

The fighting spirit of Virat Kohli had rubbed off onto the team and was apparent from game one where RCB came from behind to down the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Katich was quick to point out this aspect of the team as well. "The other thing we saw, which was very visible on the field, was that we've got a leader that, no matter what the game situation is, gets the other ten guys to follow him and stay in the contest. And one thing [for which] we're very proud of this group throughout this season is that we hung in the contest, we fought right to the end, even last night [in the Eliminator] when it looked like we didn't have enough runs on the board. We fought right till the end, and that's something that we're very proud of, and Virat can take a lot of credit for that,” he added.