Partly down to their celebrated batting line-up, partly because of their much-criticised bowling, and partly due to the fact that their home ground in M Chinnaswamy is one of T20 cricket's most high-scoring venue, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) aren't used to games where middling scores prove impactful.
That, therefore, will be one of the team's biggest challenge in UAE during the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), with not-so-flat, varying conditions set to lower the par scores required and subsequently test RCB's adaptability.
Read Also: Gautam Gambhir names a bowler who can trouble Andre Russell in the upcoming IPL
While Sharjah is generally flat, Dubai and Abu Dhabi offer bit of help to spin and pace through the playing surfaces and extended boundary dimensions, especially at the latter venue.
Director of Cricket, Mike Hesson, is aware of this and said flexibility will indeed be key as they eye their maiden title this year.
"Here 150-160 will be good scores in some grounds and it will be different. Chinnaswamy (in Bengaluru) is a great batting wicket, smaller boundaries and scores (team totals) are (on) higher (side)," Hesson told RCB's YouTube channel.
"On certain grounds yes. It depends, like Abu Dhabi, seamers had played a big role there and probably (the pitch) doesn't (offer) spin as much as the other two grounds (Dubai and Sharjah). It does skid. We need the ability to adjust to conditions on the day as well."
Hesson, who was New Zealand's head coach not too long ago, said RCB made an effort to bolster their death-overs bowling by picking Chris Morris and Isuru Udana at the auction, while already possessing Dale Steyn.
"I think there's been a lot of talk about finishing the innings with the ball in the past and we have got some experienced players in that space. Also, we can improve on players we already have.... make them a year-wise,.. a year smarter," he said, adding the conditions will again dictate the lengths bowled at the end.
"Bowling at the death in Abu Dhabi will be quite different from bowling at Chinnaswamy. The lengths you bowl and we have identified our death bowlers."
Apart from Hesson, RCB also roped in Simon Katich as head coach after another disappointing campaign last season. The Kiwi says there has been a very honest review of the whole set-up and why year after year the team has failed to live upto the expectations of their passionate supporters.
"We spend a lot of time in reviews and we addressed where we are strong, whom we need to retain, what gaps we need to fill."
"We spent a huge amount of time identifying who those players were, more importantly what their roles were," he concluded.
(Inputs from PTI)
