As Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) members are wrestling in the training camp, its head coach Daniel Vettori subsequently sheds light on the development of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise. He added Twenty20 specialist Brendon McCullum is the hottest property for the Bengaluru-based outfit.
With the eleventh edition to kick off on April 7, Vettori stated his former national teammate McCullum be serving as a ‘confidant’ to RCB’s skipper Virat Kohli.
The former Auckland-based 39-year-old Kiwis spinner Vettori has been in awe of the captaincy skills McCullum possessed during his tenure. He reiterated the flamboyant top-order batsman will boost the RCB camp.
“He’s going to be a confidant to Virat, because of his leadership skills. He brings a style of play we really want at RCB,” SportStar quotes Vettori.
The veteran New Zealander Vettori is confident that his wards will come good in the impending edition of the cash-rich league.
“We had a lot of injuries and we had a wicket that we didn’t adapt to. The pitch seems to have improved this season,” Vettori quipped.
Pertinently, Vettori has played under the leadership of McCullum which particularly includes the grand-finale of the 2015 World Cup against Australia.
“Brendon already talks about being inspired by how hard he [Kohli] works. It’s a real example to everyone,” Vettori remarks.
Talking about the IPL leg, Vettori revealed they were eager to rope in the quality leaders in the fold during the two-day mega-auction. It was held on January 28 and 28 respectively in Bengaluru.
“We were really desperate to have those leaders within the group because we probably had just AB and Virat last year,” Vettori maintained.
Moreover, Vettori while lavishing praise on top-notch batter McCullum also introduced wicketkeeper-batsmen Quinton de Kock and Parthiv Patel in the leadership fold.
“He’s a great fielder too. Now we’ve added a few more leaders – Brendon, Parthiv Patel, and Quinton de Kock, who we think is a leader as well,” Vettori remarked.
Vettori remarked Windies big-hitting giant Chris Gayle will be missed.
On the other side, Vettori added prolific batsman Kohli is ready to shoulder the responsibility for RCB.
“You can tell he’s worked really hard on all of that. He’s had a chance to step away from the pressure of playing for India,” Vettori says.
Interestingly, the right-handed batsman Kohli is fresh to the cricket after a prolonged gap of six weeks.
However, Kohli kept on focusing on his fitness throughout the rest period owing to the break from international cricket.
Moreover, RCB camp which used to be batting heavy looks pretty balanced on papers as of now.
Yet to win the IPL title, Bangalore has inducted the promising pool of local bowlers to swing fortunes in its favour. Emphasizing on the young bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar, Vettori is expecting to see him delivering big.
“There was a considered effort to assemble a strong group of domestic bowlers. We’d seen enough of Washington Sundar. We’ll look to utilise that as well,” Vettori stated.
Daniel Vettori reminisced about the 2015 WC grand-finale:
The ace spinner Vettori reiterated McCullum led his side well. He further added it has taken a lot of time to evolve for the Kiwis.
On the other hand, Vettori is further excited to see composed figure Kane Williamson making things work for the Black Caps.
“Luckily we had leaders like Brendon (McCullum) and now Kane (Williamson) – that really suits their style. It was, hopefully, natural to us but it took a long time to learn,” Vettori added.
In addition, New Zealand fought-hard against their arch-rivals as Vettori believes much could have been done in the yesteryears.
“All teams evolve and they find out their right personality, and it took New Zealand teams a long time to work out what really worked for us,” Vettori further added.
Danie Vettori on ball-tampering saga:
Simultaneously, Vettori believes the sanctioned has been ‘harsh’ for the trio. But in the foreseeable future, such punishments could serve certainly for a purpose.
“The key thing is how we deal with it in the future. It has obviously been a harsh, tough stance but that’s reality and people have to deal with it. People have to know that those could be the punishments in the future as well,” Vettori pointed.
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