Royal Challengers Bangalore will seek to finally find silverware for its bare trophy cabinet when the Champions League T20 begins here this week. The team reached the semifinal stage of the competition's previous edition and has also made two IPL finals, only to lose on each occasion.
At the media conference on arrival here on Monday, captain Daniel Vettori said his side was hopeful of landing that elusive tournament victory. “You come to any tournament and you want to look to win,” he said.
One step further
“We made the final of the IPL, so this is a chance to go one step further. We recognise that we've got a pretty good team and we need some individuals to really step up like they did in the IPL. There are probably a number of guys who didn't perform as well as they would have liked; this is an opportunity.
“I suppose it's a little different for me than it is for Ray (Jennings),” Vettori said of previous campaigns.
“I've only been with the team for one season. We're pretty proud of our IPL season last time; it was a pretty new team apart from Kohli and a couple of others. But this is an important tournament and it's one we want to win. No matter what team you play for and how long you've been playing, you just want to win.”
Coach Ray Jennings, meanwhile, argued that it wasn't necessarily a disadvantage that some of his players had not played competitive cricket since the IPL. “Look at Chris Gayle,” he said.
“He didn't play cricket for four months and came back, got a hundred (in his first match), and took the player of the tournament. So if that same process takes place it could be a blessing in disguise. Only time will tell.
“The state of the mind of the cricketer is the bigger issue for me as a coach. Players never lose their talent; they tend to get stale and too much cricket sometimes puts them in a bad frame of mind. Freshness is a very funny thing. If you freshen the mind up, you become fresh in your talent.”
The South African also disagreed that IPL sides were severely disadvantaged compared to domestic teams from Australia and South Africa. “The local State sides have problems as well,” he said. “They don't have a blend of different ideas, or (knowledge) of Indian conditions, whereas our guys have played in Indian conditions a lot more. There are positives and negatives from both sides.”
Focus on starting well
Warriors may have reached the final of the Champions League T20 in South Africa last time, but captain Johan Botha admits repeating the feat in India will be difficult.
“Last year, it was nice to play in our own conditions but it's going to be a bit tough here,” he said at a press conference on Monday. “No one's going to say ‘You were in the final last year, here's the final again'. If we can reach it again, it'll be a great achievement; but we're obviously aiming to be in the semifinals.”
“Once you're there, you're two games away from winning the tournament. If we can do it this time, we can prove to people that last year wasn't just home ground advantage. The key to such a short and intense tournament is to really start well. Our focus is to start well and get two points on Friday night.” The South African outfit will miss the services of regular captain and talismanic batsman Davy Jacobs, who has opted to represent Mumbai Indians in the competition, but Botha feels Warriors will cope with his absence.
“We've known now for a few months and we've got over it as a team. Davy did do well last year in the Champions League but after that he was injured quite a few times. In our local Twenty20, he had a bit of an up and down season. Davy was captain and a good guy to have around the team but we've got young guys who can cover for him and hopefully one of them will seize the opportunity like he did.”
