It's a privilege to have pressure – Malolan Rangarajan

As RCB gear up for the opening clash of WPL 2026, across them in the yard will be the two-time defending champions, Mumbai Indians. With a handful of top names in the blend, both the teams will be eyeing for a victorious start to the tournament.

RCB’s head coach, Malolan Rangarajan opened up on how things have only gone from strength to strength for the Royal Challengers. He underlined the importance of the entire team coming together while also shedding light on how the coaches address role clarity.

Talking about the intent in the dugout, Malo said, “The intent has always been to get the group together, even though they started off as a group of 7, then that became 11, and now we are at 15. They get really well together, and it's important to mix and match the group when we're training. We make sure that all the players were interacting with each other at different times during training sessions. So there's been a lot of work that's gone through.”

Highlighting the importance of the pressure factor, Malo added, “I'm very happy with how the preps have gone so far. You have to understand that these players are all professional players. They're playing for a very good franchise with brilliant fans. So as far as pressure is concerned, it's almost a responsibility, and I see it as a privilege to have pressure.”

He concluded with a word about RCB’s immediate objective, stating, “Our focus has been on how we want to play, and to achieve that, how we prep. That becomes really important. Understanding each player, giving them clarity over their roles. So when they come in for their sessions, they know exactly what they have to do once the game starts.”