New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) Ahead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru playing the IPL 2025 final against Punjab Kings, batting coach Dinesh Karthik believes the coaching group, led by Andy Flower, has nailed the process of ensuring players are improving as cricketers during their time of competing.

Come Tuesday, RCB will be playing an IPL final for the fourth time at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, after finishing as runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016 editions. They are up against PBKS, who are in an IPL final just for the second time.

PBKS and RCB had finished in first and second spots in the league stage, with the latter winning over the former in Qualifier 1 at Mullanpur. “When you have a team doing well like we did in the first half, you’re almost assured of playing the same 12 for most games unless there’s an injury. So you have a group of players, at least eight to ten, who know they might not start or play in that game.

“Keeping their motivation levels up, keeping them hungry, and making sure that when the opportunity comes, they’re ready for it is one of the biggest challenges. I must admit, Andy and the group have tried really hard, and they have nailed the process which has kept players not only hungry but also improving.

“Because when they improve, they feel they’ll get back better cricketers, either for the domestic sides or for the international sides. That has been a feature of what we’ve tried to achieve in this short two-month period. I would like to think, and this is feedback only the players can give, that we have genuinely made them slightly better than where they were when we came in,” said Karthik in a video posted by the franchise on their YouTube account on Monday.

RCB also had to bring in Mayank Agarwal as a replacement for injured Devdutt Padikkal, while bringing in Blessing Muzarabani and Tim Seifert as overseas replacements of Lungi Ngidi and Jacob Bethell, who missed the playoffs stage due to national duties. In between, Bethell filled in for an ill Phil Salt as the opener alongside the talismanic Virat Kohli.

“When you prepare for an auction, you prepare for starting 12 without a doubt. But then comes the rest of the players who could play in case of loss of form, injury, etc. We were most proud of that aspect of our auction. The kind of players we chose, almost everyone who stepped in found a way to deliver for the team. Credit should go to individuals more than anything else. They were waiting for an opportunity, seeing how this team functioned.

“They enjoyed being part of the team, but most importantly, when the opportunity came, they grabbed it with both hands and did a really nice job. Jacob Bethell coming in for Phil Salt is a good example. The innings he played, 50 in the second match, was just pure class. Everyone was happy to watch those players,” added Karthik.

Further talking about how Agarwal came on board as Padikkal’s replacement, Karthik explained, “When somebody gets ruled out, it’s obviously unfortunate, but you try to replace that player as best you can. Devdutt’s injury happened, and then there’s a process to figure out when he will be ready.

“When we knew he wasn’t going to be ready, we went through the scouting process. The scouting process is very strong. Malolan Rangarajan heads it and one of Mo Bobat’s greatest strengths was how well he scouted for the English team. The process we go through is quite fascinating.

“When Malolan goes through the names we want, it’s very close to how we look at players and what we do, and then the whole group sits and decides. It was obvious that Mayank is the right choice. We know what he’s done before. He’s a local boy as well, and he’s won so many games with the bat. It almost became a simple choice once that name was given.”

Mo Bobat, RCB’s Director of Cricket, further spoke about how the side adapted to challenges in their way, including of not winning games initially at their home venue M Chinnaswamy Stadium, to enter the title clash. “I think we can play really well and lose a game, and I can take a sense of satisfaction from that, but the opposite is also true. I think we could win a game and not play the way I think we should, and I’d be quite disappointed with that.”

“So my main aim is just playing the way that we set out, and by and large we’ve done that, so I find that very satisfying. The other thing that I’m really pleased about is we’ve adapted really well to the challenges. In any season, it’s never just a straight line towards winning a trophy.”

“There are loads of speed bumps along the way and you have to be able to adapt to those challenges. For example, slightly tricky home conditions, we had to adapt to that. And starting with predominantly away fixtures at tough venues, we had to adapt to that as well, which was tricky. We’ve also had a few injuries that we had to adapt to, and it’s been good to see other players come in and do well.”

–IANS

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