According to Gavaskar, the captaincy of Rajat Patidar got the team to gel well. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the second time did not come as a surprise at all. Out of all the 10 participating teams, they looked the most well-oiled machine. They had batting depth, they had variety in their bowling, and their fielding was vastly better than that of other teams in a season where some simple catches were grassed.

Above all, it was the captaincy of Rajat Patidar that got the team to gel in a manner that was befitting of a champion team. They were not dependent on any one player, and the fact that eight different players from their team won the ‘Player of the Match’ award in the tournament shows that.

If the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was the standout player with the bat with his awe-inspiring six-hitting ability, it was the 36-year-old Bhuvneshwar Kumar who once again showed that you do not need express pace, but clever variations in this format to take wickets. There were some acrobatic catches taken but also some easy ones missed, which invariably turned the course of the game as the reprieved batter capitalised on his escape to make a telling difference.

In a format where fortunes can change virtually every over, the standout captains were Patidar, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill. Not only did they perform splendidly with the bat, but they were razor sharp with their bowling changes and tactical moves. Captaincy can flower if the individual is doing well in his own speciality, and that is where perhaps Riyan Parag fell a bit short. With his own form not being consistent and with a leg injury at the back of his mind, he wasn’t able to lead with the sharpness that one associates with his game. Still, he is the one to keep an eye on as he is a natural leader.

Captains and coaches are only as good as their teams, and the other skippers suffered because they didn’t have talent in their squads that could play the decisive innings and bowl the devastating spell that changed the match their way.

A lot of the big hitters in the various State and city leagues that have sprouted up were exposed when faced with the international quality of bowling in the IPL.

In the State and city leagues, the standard of both batting and bowling is nowhere near as good, and unless the scouts have a discerning eye and don’t get swayed by player agents, the franchises will keep picking players based on these performances and find they have wasted their money.

When a franchise picks a player for crores and then doesn’t play him in more than a couple of games, it tells you that their scouts and advisers have sold them a dummy. The IPL very quickly finds a player out as being overrated and overvalued. Yet there will be players who will have one performance in the tournament, and it’s usually in a match of not much consequence for their team and on the basis of that performance be picked for another year. One could make at least four teams of such one-match performers who will be picked again and again in the IPL.

Rishabh Pant stepping down as the captain of his team, which finished bottom of the table, is the first change in captaincy for the next season, as there could well be many more before the new season starts next year. He did say on more than one occasion that there were too many voices in his ear and too many thought processes, which is definitely not a compliment to the support staff. Whether that leads to a wholesale change at the franchise will be interesting to see.

Talk is easy, and it is cheap too, and making big claims like some coaches have, may make good headlines, but cricket has a funny way of biting on the backside.

Andy Flower, the coach of RCB, which has now won two back-to-back titles, is a fine example of someone who works quietly, with no big statements that make headlines. And no golfing and beer-drinking buddies as members of his support staff either.

Maybe there’s a lesson there. If only those who appoint them could see that, then their teams would not be out of contention even before the first month of the tournament is over.

Published on Jun 01, 2026