Batting Depth Was Our Number One Priority At Auction: RCB Director Mo Bobat

Fans of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have been used to seeing their franchise linger at the bottom half of the table at the halfway point of IPL seasons, but after 46 games in IPL 2025, RCB sit atop with 7 wins from 10 games.

It’s been a dominant season thus far from RCB, and one of the major factors behind the same has been the side’s batting depth, with the lower-order helping the side win multiple games.

It was a late lower-order blitz that helped RCB beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Chinnaswamy, and against Delhi Capitals (DC) on April 27 (Sunday), batting depth enabled the team to shuffle the batting order and send Krunal Pandya up the order, a tactic that eventually proved to be a masterstroke as the elder Pandya hammered an unbeaten 73 off 47 on a tricky wicket to power RCB to a sixth consecutive away win.

In the aftermath of the DC win, the team’s director Mo Bobat spoke about how the franchise was clear about one thing heading into the auction, which was the need for batting depth.

"One of the things we wanted to do at the auction was make sure that we had batting depth,” Bobat explained. 

“So it goes back all the way to our recruitment. We wanted to make sure we had contributions all the way down to number seven and number eight in our batting order. I think we've done that through most of the season so far. Today was Krunal's opportunity and he took it really well.”

Bobat further heaped praise on Krunal for the leadership he’s shown on the field all season. The RCB director revealed that the think-tank, at the auction, was focused on getting players like Krunal who are not only experienced, but also tend to stand tall under pressure.

“He's got huge experience. He bowled brilliantly. At the halfway mark, he was talking to me passionately about how some fielding positions could have been better,” Bobat said of Krunal.

“He's got so much to offer tactically. And then he went out and did the business with the bat as well. In the recruitment, we wanted to add players of that ilk, players who can stand up under pressure. And it was great to see Krunal do that today.”

At one stage, chasing 163, RCB were teetering at 26/3, having lost their skipper Rajat Patidar, but the side’s batters kept their composure and took the team home. Bobat said that the DC win spoke volumes about RCB’s character. 

"A win like today where we stuttered a little bit with the bat but eventually got there, was a good example of the personality, character and togetherness of the team. We're in a good place right now, playing pretty good cricket all season, but the character of the side is really starting to shine through now,” the RCB director said.

RCB have six days off before taking on Chennai Super Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on May 3 (Saturday).