Great to be back home - Royal Challengers Bangalore Coach Blog

Coach Ray Jennings

Monday, March 08, 2010

Great to be back home

The razzmatazz of the Indian Premier League returns to its rightful home this season, after an exciting tournament in the southern cape last year. All of India will be eagerly awaiting the festivities, as a significant number of fans missed out on watching their favorite players in their home cities last season.

Apart from the various stakeholders of the IPL, everyone at Royal Challengers is extremely excited about the prospect of 7 home games at a packed KSCA, as well as travelling the length and breadth of India for some intense twenty20 cricket.

Our side has grown tremendously since the inaugural edition of the IPL, and it’s particularly heartening to witness the rapid strides that the likes of Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun have made in their respective games.

One player that I have been particularly impressed with over the past year is Virat Kohli, who has made tremendous progress in the international arena. Virat is blessed with extraordinary talent, and it was only a matter of time before he performed consistently in international cricket.

The core group of Indian players in our squad have improved in every aspect of the game, and will undoubtedly have a key role in the team’s success this year. Along with some new exciting international talent, the Royal Challengers have a balanced outfit that will give every franchise a run for their money.

Eoin Morgan is an unorthodox and very ‘un-English’ type of player, and his batting is ideal for twenty20 cricket. He will relish the challenge of the IPL, and will be a fine addition to the middle order of our batting line up. Steve Smith is another promising addition to the team, as he will bring in a great deal of youthful exuberance, with his fine fielding and tight leg spin bowling.

The IPL this year will have a host of high quality international performers, ranging from tear away quick bowlers, to explosive batters, and the fans in India are in for a real treat. Shaun Tait has established himself as one of the most potent strike bowlers in twenty20 cricket, and he is sure to unleash a few 160 Km/hr thunderbolts when he runs in for the Rajasthan Royals this season. In addition, Kieron Pollard will be greatly looking forward to the smaller grounds in India, and will fancy putting many deliveries into the stands when the action gets underway. He will be the prized scalp when teams go up against the Mumbai Indians this year.

As far as the Royal Challengers are concerned, every member in the unit is geared up for the competition, and are looking to go one better than what we achieved in 2009. The action is nearing, and the excitement is building up in the camp, and every player is looking forward to putting up a good show for the fans.

Ray Jennings is the former coach of the South African national cricket team and current head coach of the Royal Challengers. He was talking to Dhruv Mullick.

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Latest Comments:

best of luck rcb….............

Posted by jinga on 03/14 at 11:43 AM

Dear RJ,

I hope Cameron White will be playing the first match… He is a real big hitter of the ball. don’t 4get his last Int T20 match vs NZ… Also Eoin Morgan is a cleaver t20 cricketer.. and all we r waitin for ROSS TAYLOR to arrvie asap…

All the best RCB….luv u..

Posted by Flammy on 03/13 at 03:58 AM

u can mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Posted by manor on 03/09 at 05:49 PM

respected coach ray jennings,
i really think i am tough enough to play for RCB, i am right handed hard hitting batsmen,and also right arm medium fast bowler. i have never played any leagues or even district matches. but i am sure i can pass through any tests that r given to me by the RCB selection commitie. every day i practice at the empty nets at 4.am early morning as i am not free in the evenings cause i hav to attend my engineering collage from 9 to 4pm and my tution clases from 6pm to 8pm ,but some where i feel the fire in my heart to play cricket.i am 20 years old from banglore,i can swing the ball away from the batsmen and also working on my in swingers and my pace,no one taught me that though, i learnt it from the videos posted in the internet.so all iam asking for is plss hav a look at my game,cause even if you dont take me seriously ,no matter what ,i am gonna play RCB within 2 years and no one can stop from doin it cause ,i think its my destiny

Posted by manor on 03/09 at 05:47 PM

Get Ganesh Satish!! A wonderful prospect.

Posted by RockGel on 03/09 at 03:41 PM

u doin a great job boss….keep up da gud work.

Posted by mr420 on 03/09 at 12:07 PM

Dear Mr Jennings,

Virat has indeed made some giant strides over the last few months, in the international arena and I am sure that he will carry the same confidence and form into the IPL. The rise of the other domestic players augurs well for RCB. As far as the international stars are concerned, we all have seen their respective talents and we can expect some awe-inspiring performances from them. However, the real edge that RCB has over the rivals is, the presence of some really talented and in-form domestic players.

The international cricket calendars shows that most of the foreign players will be available to their respective IPL teams, only by the end of March. RCB must look forward to encash on its strength and with Dravid, Kumble and Kohli in the ranks, we can get a good early lead in the points tally enabling us to be on the safer side by the time April comes.

Posted by Wizardprince on 03/08 at 11:26 PM

Thanks ray, cant wait for the matches to start…

Posted by Shiva-Raju on 03/08 at 09:27 PM

This is gonna Rock!! hope they have a great form through out the season in every department

Posted by Praxtor on 03/08 at 08:54 PM

I think we made the wisest decision in choosing Eoin Morgan after we couldn’t win bid for Keiron Pollard. He’s a great buy for the price he has been bought. He makes up for the lower order power hitting in the absence of Ross Taylor. Manish Pandey is another guy who promises a lot of big innings!
All the best to the team and the coach. Hoping to see the team excel their past performances.

Kunal

Posted by KunJan on 03/08 at 07:44 PM

Ray we are in a better Position and better Form compared to last year with the type of Form our local Karnataka Boys are in it looks like we can make 2 different teams to compete in this Edition…........ and play each others in the Finals
Please provide a chance for JAK (J.Arun Kumar) and get Ganesh Satish to the Team
Waiting to cheer for u Guys
WALL and JUMBO u really ROCK

Posted by ravi1411 on 03/08 at 07:39 PM

Welcome Coach.. nice to have you back in India… We have quite a few new talent in the team. Virat seems to be the key factor this time. Hoping to see all of them in action and the cup as well..

Posted by Avakash on 03/08 at 07:22 PM

And likewise we’re looking forward to see the action.
I also agree that Virat is a bright prospect. He is a great batsman and who can lay the long innings. Also due to the IPL, his aggressive nature has been improved and he can clear the ropes with will.
Eoin Morgan is also a great asset. I feel that he will be the future face for England. His innings in Bangladesh shows his quality.
Welcome home coach!

Posted by Poshin on 03/08 at 07:18 PM