Virat Kohli may no longer be the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), but he remains one of cricket's most prominent characters and a role model for many young people.
Kohli is the one who has pulled the senior players in the team together and actually cares for the youth, according to Mike Hesson, Director of Cricket Operations for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was talking ahead of the Eliminator match of IPL 2022 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Kohli spends time with youth, has breakfast with them, and wants to get to know them better, Hesson said on RCB Bold Diaries.
"Virat is obviously a key part of that, being our Ex-Captain, and such an influential character, but he also brought a whole lot of senior players for the ride that he can engage with. All the young guys love him because he cares, actually genuinely talks and sit to have breakfast with them, gets to know them, sits them by the pool, whatever it is to actually build that group and he does that organically, it's not fake, it's quite a natural way with how he deals with people," Hesson said.
Thanks to Mumbai Indians' win over Delhi Capitals, RCB qualified for the playoffs. Kohli recovered his form for RCB after a forgettable showing with the bat, smashing a 54-ball 73 against Gujarat Titans in their last league match.
Sharing details about the work that goes behind building a franchise, Hesson added, "I think it is more about having some real consistency of how we go about our work; you try to limit those ups and downs that happen in any IPL. It is all about being calm under pressure, in terms of, what your response is when you are under the pump, do you panic, do you make horrible changes, or do you believe in what you're trying to do? A lot of work goes behind the scenes in terms of making sure we are clear on how we want to play our cricket, and then about who are the people that can fulfill those roles."
On May 25, RCB will face Lucknow Super Giants in the 15th edition Eliminator. With a 7-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals, Hardik Pandya and his teammates were the first team to qualify for the final.
