Victorious RCBians Take Aim at Arch Rival Mumbai
After the heady success of the match against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, the Royal Challengers Bangalore team caught a late afternoon flight for Bangalore.
Suddenly the players felt they were ‘home.’ Yes, this new lot for RCB had caught onto Bangalore and its hospitable surroundings. Surely, one needs to be away from home to recognize the value of home and this was a case in point. Kochi had united this bunch even more.
The players relaxed, as many of them had attended a Royal Challengers function in Kochi and therefore needed some time to ‘find themselves’ amid the din of the last 48 hours. Many of them then went in groups for dinner and a taste of the Bengaluru air.
Monday morning arrived and the players were up bright and early. Some had a photo shoot at the Chinnaswamy stadium after which Daniel Vettori addressed RCB fans by camera by passing on some bowling tips http://www.royalchallengers.com/fan-club/daniel-vettori-interview. Next was lunch at the stadium and then off they went to get some rest because practice nets were scheduled in the evening.
Come practice time and the diehard RCB or Karnataka fan could not have missed the contrasting images of the RCB players in the nets on the right hand side and that of the Mumbai Indians on the left. These two franchises and of course their Ranji Trophy representative sides had fought tooth and nail in many battles. The encounter remained special.
As is customary, RCB engaged in a game of football to warm up its players’ muscles. Dirk Nannes took a liking to minding the goalpost for his team. Among the players excelling in their footballs skills were Dilshan and CM Gautham who charged Nannes at the goal after some deft dribbling. Nannes however thwarted this attempt.
After stretches, the nets started under the eagle eye of Ray Jennings and bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad for whom this year has been a homecoming. Anil Kumble dropped in to liaise with Ray and was seen in animated conversation. Unlike in the practice session at Kochi where Anil had donned the team colours and had a go at the batters, here he was in civilian clothes. This was expected because his duties as president of the KSCA took some of his time because this was after all a home match.
As the players went about their batting and bowling, Luke Pommersbach preferred to practice one handed catching with tennis balls hit being off a racquet and soon was joined by Mohammad Kaif. Trainer Basu had Zaheer Khan punch away at his padded hands to bring in the aggression and soon the duo looked like they were in a boxing club. All in all a rewarding session.
So, what lies on the morrow? Ask Siddhartha Mallya, who while launching an RCB hot air balloon earlier in the afternoon told everyone that he truly believed RCB had the potential to ‘do it’ this year. He was forthright about how well the Management had planned before hand for the bidding process at the auction. The results to be seen so far were promising.
Good luck then, RCB! They will look to send the Mumbai Indians scurrying, never mind their reputations.
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