Hesson seeks to maximise April home advantage

Owing to the Assembly elections in Karnataka on May 10, the Royal Challengers Bangalore play six of their opening eight games of IPL Season-16 at home. While it gives them a fantastic platform to make a sound start, the flipside is just one home match in the second half ends up putting too much pressure on the squad to rake up the points in April itself.

RCB’s Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson felt the situation works to their advantage. “It gives us an opportunity to start the tournament strongly,” the New Zealander said at a hastily arranged media gathering on Friday. “It gives us an opportunity to get to know the conditions, play in front of a home crowd which we haven’t done in a while. If we reach the halfway stage playing some good cricket then it’ll be a nice place to go on the road for a bit.”

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Former skipper Virat Kohli has been in excellent form leading up to the IPL and Hesson said the management would ensure their ace batter is in a great space so that he continue his great run for the franchise too. “Virat is in a very good space and he’s playing very nicely. It’s not a matter of talking too much about tactics and strategy. It’s all about enjoying the cricket at the moment and making sure he’s as relaxed as possible. There are always external pressures in the IPL, and it’s more if you’re Virat Kohli. If you make the environment as relaxed as possible, that’s when he plays his best cricket.”

The biggest talking points this IPL has been the potentially game-changing Impact Player rule and the allowance for captains to name the squads much after the toss. Hesson felt the Impact Rule could diminish the role of all-rounders who are one of the most sought-after entities.

“When the Impact Player rule came out it was quite intriguing in terms of when it’ll be used and how it’ll be used. Now it’s very much a substitute. When you name your XI, if you are batting, obviously you have an extra batter. I think it takes away a lot of the intrigue actually. I think now you are pretty much playing 12 against 12 which will take out some of the all-rounders from the game. It limits the opportunities for domestic all-rounders too who will be trying to find their spot,” said Hesson.

Despite being dubbed a top team, RCB have generally flattered to deceive with the IPL trophy still remaining elusive to them. Hesson said the team is aware of it but felt focussing on playing good cricket instead of worrying about an empty trophy cabinet will prove beneficial.

“Thinking about the elusive title even before you start playing a tournament is of no benefit for anybody. We have to play good cricket over the next two months to give ourselves a chance. If we get consumed by winning the title, it’s not helpful. As a group we are very clear on how we want to play our cricket. If we do that and do it at the back end of the season very importantly, then we give ourselves the best chance,” a confident-looking Hesson concluded.