Optimism never in short supply among RCB faithful

From the stands

Captain Virat Kohli’s message to Royal Challengers Bangalore’s fans last week summed up the team’s journey this year. Having extended stupendous support to the team for 12 seasons, the RCB fans deserved a response and fittingly, it was the skipper who chose to speak.

“We aren’t proud of the way we played and we are deeply hurt,” Kohli begins in a video posted on social media. “We know we haven’t lived up to the expectations of the fans. Please keep supporting us and I promise you that next year we will come back stronger and put in a better effort,” he says.

The Challengers’ campaign, which endured a forgettable first-half, sank further with a 16-run defeat to Delhi Capitals at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Sunday. It was RCB’s eighth defeat in 12 games and social media trolls came to taunt the Bangalore fans for the umpteenth time. With two games left now, the supporters have little to look forward to.

Preetham, who heads the group Namma Team RCB, says it hurts to see the team struggle. “Be it exciting players or great support, RCB have everything. But we understand that a title is what makes a team complete,” he says.

The group, which began the season with a 900 square feet banner that said ‘We Are Together’, made another gargantuan banner that read “We Believe In You”, after RCB were tottering at the bottom with six straight defeats. Namma Team RCB, a group of 150 members, travelled for a couple of RCB’s away games to back the team.

Preetham, a business development manager at Elite Medical, mentions some of the demands of the group. “After the first half of the season, we met the RCB management. We told them that the team lacks local players. Karnataka have many talented players. We also felt they fumbled in team selection in many games,” he says.

With his trademark red-paint look for every match, Sugumar, a strong RCB loyalist, is every photographer’s delight. The burly man is still waiting for his dream moment. “During the 2016 final against Sunrisers Hyderabad, we (RCB) lost from a strong position. The team management had promised that I could be part of their victory parade. I was supposed to receive the trophy from Kohli. It’s sad that it has still remained a dream. But I will always support RCB because they are the best entertainers of the league,” he says.

Suraj Hebbar Shankar, a software engineer in the United States, feels it’s not enough for a team to just win hearts. “It’s sad that they (RCB) are called chokers. Even a team like South Africa hasn’t won the World Cup. These are teams with big names. RCB’s bowling has been a huge disappointment for many years,” he notes.

Ashish HP (operation analyst at Aasan Jobs) and Poornima S (senior analyst at Planlogic) -- a couple from Bengaluru – moved to Sri Lanka for career purposes couple of years ago. Despite their time away from India, the two never missed the IPL action. “I am a huge CSK fan but my wife loves RCB. We are inspired by Kingfisher’s tagline. We are divided by IPL but united by love. For my wife, more than the players it’s the team. Bengaluru is an emotion for her. She feels a team has to entertain and RCB is best at that,” says Ashish.

RCB is also backed by eternal optimists like Bharath AU, a regulatory affairs associate at Novo Nordisk. Currently holidaying in France, he has time to do the math to see what can get RCB to the play-offs. Despite his grouse against RCB’s miserable bowling and Kohli’s questionable team combinations, Bharath believes his team’s time will come. “Next Sala Cup Namde,” he proudly predicts.