Mo Bobat, the Director of Cricket for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) while addressing the convergence of global sporting stakeholders at RCB Innovation Lab’s Leaders Meet India, shed light on the team's strategic priorities for the upcoming IPL auctions.
Bobat highlighted the need for smart decision-making in trades and auctions to further strengthen the player group. “We have got a strong core of retaining players, and we have got a very powerful top order. Part of the decision-making that we had around our player release decisions was to try and strengthen the middle order and bringing Cameron Green was a fantastic move. Mohammad Siraj is a core part of what we do so supporting Siraj with some more bowling options including overseas bowling options is going to be a real priority for us moving forward. Then we have got a core of local spinners, which I think is quite strong. Some of them got some opportunities over the last year or two and they might play more leading roles moving forward,” he said.
One of the key minds behind RCB Innovation Lab, the 40-year-old dived into the innovative nature of the first-of-its-kind summit and the thought process behind it, “When we first conceptualized the RCB Innovation Lab we wanted RCB to be known as innovators on and off the field. Leaders have got a fantastic track record of doing this sort of thing around the world and it is their first venture in India. We have deliberately set this one up as a hybrid of high performance and business coexisting in one place. That is really important because the two things are connected. Hopefully, it acts as a bit of a catalyst for movement and change for resource, backing, and decision-making across all sports in India.”
Bobat also underscored the significance of fostering the right performance environment and culture for players to showcase their capabilities. “I am committed to a long-term project here. We have a fantastic captain in Faf, and an excellent group of senior players with the experience of Virat, Maxi (Maxwell), and DK (Dinesh Karthik). So the ingredients are really strong. The next objective is to make sure we create the right performance, and culture where the players can really go and showcase what they are capable of, and go out and entertain the public. If we commit to our processes, play a brand of cricket that is aggressive, and have those moments where we're prepared to be brave it will get the fans going.”
While discussing how he identifies the right fast bowler using data and a holistic approach which will be key for RCB going into the IPL 2024 auction, Bobat delved into the skill, physical, and psychological aspects and stated, “Naturally cricket tends to get attracted to and gravitate towards things like the control and the lateral movement of fast bowlers but what we should be doing is identifying players that have the pace and the balance. The reason I draw that distinction is you can teach someone to ball accurately, you can teach someone to develop craft and lateral movement but it is not that easy to teach pace or manufacture balance because you are talking about their release height and their physicality. So understanding that distinction between which of those attributes we need to identify and which of those things we can teach over time is a really important distinction,”
Regarding cricket talent in India, Bobat expressed his admiration for the country’s talent pool whilst also praising the men’s cricket team’s consistent and standout performances in the recently concluded cricket World Cup 2023.
