"Everytime we lost wickets, he continued throwing punches": RCB DoC hails Patidar's captaincy

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 1 : Ahead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) first home game of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), the team's Director of Cricket Mo Bobat hailed skipper Rajat Patidar's captaincy, saying that he has coped with the burden of captaincy comes it well and throws his punches despite loss of wickets.
Patidar-led RCB, who looked an absolutely inspired unit during their away wins against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK), will be aiming to replicate their sensational run so far in their first home game of the season at M Chinnaswammy Stadium against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of the match in a pre-match presser, Bobat said about Patidar's captaincy, "It has been pretty good. The main thing you want to see from any leader or captain is that they continue to let their personality come across and I think he has done that really well. We do not want him to become a captain and be somebody else. We want him to be himself, very calm inwardly and outwardly. He rarely, if ever, takes a backward step and we have seen that with his batting, particularly against CSK. Every time we lost wickets, he continued to throw punches, and he seems to have coped with all the other stuff that comes with captaincy as well because it is a busy time."
Bobat said that Patidar has "been everything I hoped and expected him to be".
"We know it is early days, there is a lot of cricket left to be played and when we get through the busy part of the schedule and the fixtures come thick and fast and no doubt we will have some challenges at some point in the season. That will be a time where we've really got to be there to support him. But at the minute, he has been very impressive," he concluded.
On RCB's pace attack consisting of seniors Josh Hazlewood and up-and-coming bowlers Yash Dayal and Rasikh Dar Salam, Bobat said that there is a "high-degree of variety and skill".
"Josh Hazlewood (five wickets at an average of 8.60 in two matches) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (one wicket in one match at 20.00) are two bowlers with extreme class and international pedigree. They know their strengths really well, the opposition will know their strengths too, so they are not easy bowlers to play against. It is also worth mentioning Yash Dayal (three wickets in two matches at an average of 14.33). I think as a three-man pace bowling unit, those three have got a high degree of variety and very good skill," said Bobat.
Bobat said that he feels that these three bowlers are capable of bowling in a high-scoring, "difficult and challenging" stadium like Chinnaswammy.
"At the minute, we are very happy with how those guys have gone, but we have also got other guys in the wings, knocking on the door. I think Rasikh Salam's a very skilful bowler, particularly in these sorts of conditions. Really happy with our bowling," he concluded.
Squads:
Gujarat Titans Squad: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Shahrukh Khan, Sherfane Rutherford, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Arshad Khan, Jayant Yadav, Nishant Sindhu, Kulwant Khejroliya, Gerald Coetzee, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Karim Janat
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Romario Shepherd, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara.