Uncertainty to clarity: When winning became the standard at RCB

IPL 2026

Uncertainty to clarity: When winning became the standard at RCB

by Gokul Gopal •

RCB became only the third franchise to defend their IPL crown. © AFP

RCB became only the third franchise to defend their IPL crown. © AFP

When Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally ended their 18-year wait for an IPL title in 2025, relief was the dominant emotion. For a franchise that had carried the weight of expectation and near-misses for nearly two decades, simply getting over the line felt monumental.

Yet even amid the celebrations, Mo Bobat, RCB's director of cricket, was already looking beyond the breakthrough.

"If we were to only win or push for it once in this cycle, we'd probably feel like that's an underachievement," Bobat told Cricbuzz last year. "I've got a lot of belief in this group and Andy [Flower] has as well, as has Rajat [Patidar] and the other senior players, and we're hungry. So all our attention will go to trying to hunt down a second IPL trophy and try and hunt down back-to-back wins."

Twelve months later, those words sound less like ambition and more like a blueprint.

RCB's second successive title was secured with a level of authority that stood in contrast to the uncertainty that surrounded their maiden triumph. But as Bobat and head coach Flower reflected after the latest success, the story of this team did not begin in 2025. Nor did it begin with the mega auction that reshaped the squad.

In many ways, it began in failure. "I suppose when Andy and I first joined the franchise and we obviously had a first year that was a season of two halves and pretty challenging," Bobat said. "And then we had the benefit of a mega auction and a bit of a reset, having learned some really strong lessons in the year before."

Those lessons came during a turbulent 2024 campaign. RCB's dramatic late surge into the playoffs has since become part of franchise folklore, but the management remembers the season for something else: clarity.

"Definite differences between 2025 and 2026 campaigns. But I would also mention the 2024 season, because that was instrumental in setting out a determination to do things a little bit differently," Flower said. "You know, the very tough first half of 2024 gave us real clarity about certain strategic things that we wanted to employ, and it gave us the courage almost through desperation to take those measures."

The difficulties of that season forced hard conversations. It also gave Flower and Bobat a clearer idea of what they wanted the next version of RCB to look like. The mega auction that followed presented an opportunity to act on those convictions. Alongside a significantly reshaped squad came another major decision: handing the captaincy to Patidar.

"The opportunity also to introduce Rajat as a new captain, which felt like a blank slate for us," Bobat said. "At that point, I probably looked at this cycle and having come through a really good auction, we were very ambitious and optimistic about what we could do with this squad."

The optimism was not built purely on talent. Throughout their reflections, both Flower and Bobat repeatedly returned to the importance of character. "We were clear on what we were trying to build as a squad in terms of team structure," Bobat said. "We were quite clear on the attributes and characteristics that we wanted from players. That's a combination of skill and character."

Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood were instrumental in RCB's back-to-back titles. © BCCI

While the mega auction gave RCB an opportunity to reshape the squad, the management's focus extended beyond assembling a collection of talented cricketers. The common thread was reliability. Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Phil Salt and Tim David became central pillars of the new-look squad, alongside retained players like Virat Kohli and Patidar.

"It's obvious when anyone looks at our squad that we've massively valued experience across key roles," Bobat explained. "I once heard a phrase used about another elite sportsman that always stuck with me. Some of the best sportsmen, the pressure moments find them. So we've got quite a few players where the pressure moments gravitate towards them."

That idea would become central to RCB's evolution.

The first title, however, still had to be won. For all the planning and preparation, there remained one unavoidable reality. RCB had never crossed the finish line before. But even before joining the franchise, Flower and Bobat had deliberately chosen not to view that history as baggage.

"We've had 2025, where we were walking into the unknown a little, as RCB had never won the title before," Flower said. "So there was a lot of tension and uncertainty around getting into playoffs and then obviously lifting the trophy. To be quite frank, I sort of reframed it in my head. As the fact that RCB had never won a trophy, it meant it was less pressure for me coming in because there was a very clear route upwards and towards something that hadn't been done before."

That mindset became a recurring theme of their leadership. Rather than being paralysed by history, they sought to embrace the opportunity it presented. "We certainly wanted the guys to get excited by the opportunity that presented itself to all of us in that dressing room. And not get lost or distracted by the past," Flower recalled.

"I never came here or felt like we wouldn't achieve the elusive first trophy," added Bobat. "I know that many teams have tried and many management teams and players have tried over lots of years to try and win that first trophy. I never really doubted that we would do that. And I suppose I always had it in my mind that once we won that first one, we needed to not settle for that as being what we've come here to do or what we're all getting together to do.

"Because like any sports team, you want to have almost like a bit of an infinite goal that you're just always striving towards achieving something that constantly inspires your fans. So how has it been different? Well, last year through the season, as we built our confidence, it felt like something we had to achieve and get done and almost tick off that first milestone.

"Whereas this year has felt quite different. From the moment we finished last season, we've tried to push people to be ambitious about going again. And there's been probably a deeper confidence amongst the player group this year and probably us as well as the management group around what the players are capable of, which obviously comes from success."

The breakthrough title ultimately arrived. What distinguished this leadership group was not the confidence that RCB would eventually win a title, but the refusal to view that achievement as the end point. In elite sport, breakthrough victories can sometimes become destinations in themselves. Teams spend so long pursuing a goal that once it is achieved, maintaining the same edge becomes difficult.

Bobat and Flower were conscious of that risk from the outset. The challenge, as Bobat saw it, was to ensure that success did not alter the franchise's sense of purpose. The trophy drought may have defined RCB from the outside, but internally the objective was broader: build a team capable of contending year after year rather than one that briefly climbed the summit before beginning another cycle of rebuilding.

The difference was visible long before the final. Across both seasons, Bobat had placed particular emphasis on finishing in the top two, viewing it as the clearest marker of a team capable of sustaining success.

"Across both seasons, I've probably been personally quite keen and fixed on trying to achieve top two, because I think the 14-game group stage is quite a gruelling campaign," he said. "If you can put yourself in a position to finish top two, I think everybody knows historically what that means for your chances."

The pursuit of standards, rather than trophies alone, became the defining feature of the project. When asked if RCB was developing a "trophy hunter mindset", Bobat offered an answer that perhaps best explains why the team has remained hungry after finally tasting success.

"A more healthy thought process is to really immerse yourself in how you want to play your cricket," he said. "We take a lot of satisfaction from how probably the public are enjoying watching how we play and describing our performance in a way that aligns with the vision we have in our heads."

The trophies, he suggested, should emerge as a consequence. "You have to trust that with the way that you want to play your cricket and then the environment you create and the way you care for people and the togetherness that you have means that the success and the trophies become inevitable."

Creating that environment has perhaps been Flower's greatest contribution. Throughout the round-table conversations, the head coach repeatedly returned to the importance of people beyond the playing XI, those that got limited or no opportunities. "It's really important to look after people," he said. "Those players that aren't playing all the time, they still need to feel valued and also feel as if they're progressing themselves."

"He never knew when or if that chance was going to come. And when it did come, each time he made contributions."

Flower pointed to Venkatesh Iyer as the ideal example. Despite spending large periods outside the first-choice XI, he remained prepared and contributed whenever called upon. "He never knew when or if that chance was going to come. And when it did come, each time he made contributions."

The message was simple: every player mattered. It was part of a broader effort to create an environment where individuals understood their roles, trusted the people around them and felt equipped to contribute whenever required. That philosophy extended to leadership too. Rather than moulding Patidar into a more vocal or conventional captain, Flower and Bobat encouraged him to lean on the qualities that had brought him to the role in the first place.

"When I got a new role in 2025, I was pretty clear that I don't have to change myself," Patidar said. "And that's what Andy and Mo told me. You don't have to change. Be yourself."

That, coupled with the experience embedded throughout the squad, helped explain what many observers noticed about RCB during the 2026 playoffs and final: calmness. The nervous energy that accompanied the maiden title charge had largely disappeared. The coach acknowledged there were still nerves. There always are in games of such consequence. But there was also a deeper level of confidence, born from experience.

"This year has felt a little bit different. I think there's a deeper level of confidence in our squad," said Flower. "That deeper level of confidence that comes from testing yourself against good opposition or in challenging circumstances and proving to yourselves as a group that you are not only able to handle whatever's thrown at you, but you're able to thrive in that high-pressure environment, that produces real confidence."

Bobat's words from a year ago now read like the mission statement for this era. The first trophy was never supposed to be the destination. It was merely proof that the journey was heading in the right direction. The successful defence in 2026 offered the clearest evidence yet that RCB were building something designed to last.

© Cricbuzz

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