IPL 13: No actual set positions in T20s as batting has to be flexible, says RCB coach Katich

Dubai [UAE], November 7 : Simon Katich, the head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Saturday said there are no fixed positions for batsmen in T20 cricket as the side needs to be flexible in order to adapt to any kind of situation.
RCB bowed out of IPL 2020 on Friday, as the side suffered a loss against SunRisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator clash. The side had finished the group stage at the fourth spot with 14 points from 14 matches.
"One thing we tried to do with our batting order was to structure it so that the guys that batted in consistent pairings complimented each other. You have guys who are strong against pace and then there are some who are strong against spin. We were mindful of that and there were some games, we did bring in left-handers to break that right-handed batting mix. Pretty much in T20, batting has to be flexible, the nature of the game dictates how you have to play, there are no actual set positions in T20s. A lot of times it comes down to how you go about things during certain matchups, it is about making it hard for the opposition captain," said Katich while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference.
Devdutt Padikkal was the leading run-scorer for RCB as he finished with 473 runs while Yuzvendra Chahal took 21 wickets for the side.
The Virat Kohli-led side struggled to score runs at a brisk pace during the middle phase of the innings, and this can be termed as the one major reason for RCB losing its last five matches this season.
Skipper Kohli managed to score 466 runs in this year's IPL from 15 matches at an average of 42.36. Speaking about Kohli's performance, Katich said: "From the batting perspective, we did have consistent opening partnerships between Finch and Padikkal, we actually did get solid opening partnerships, that is an area we needed to address and we got that. But as a byproduct of that, Virat came into the innings outside the powerplay and that is not an easy time to start your innings, that was a challenge for him, but we saw the class of Kohli during the match against CSK. You just cannot judge a performance by the numbers."
"From the leadership point of view, we have been lucky to spend 11 weeks with him. He is a respected bloke around the group, from what we saw, we saw someone who is invested in this group, he spent a lot of time with the young players. We have got a leader who gets his team to follow him irrespective of the match situation, we fought right till the end and Virat can take a lot of credit for that," he added.
RCB had brought Australia limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch into their side and the right-handed batsman managed to score 268 runs from 12 matches. Finch was dropped for a few matches, but he was brought back for the Eliminator clash against SunRisers Hyderabad.
Speaking about Finch's addition into the mix, Katich said: "We obviously tried to address the over-reliance on Virat and de Villiers this season by bringing in Finch into the mix. We knew we would play young Padikkal, he showed ability at the top of the order and we wanted to surround him with three world-class players. Unfortunately, Finch did not have as strong a season we hoped for but that can happen sometimes in T20, but he had a great presence around the group, in the runs aspect, we did not get the output we were looking for."
"In terms of the middle overs, that is an area we need to look at, the numbers do not lie, we did change the balance this year by having two overseas bowlers and it strengthened our bowling," he concluded.