Katich hints at Padikkal IPL debut

Simon Katich, the Royal Challengers Bangalore head coach, said the team management is leaving no stone unturned in preparing the players for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League.

On the eve of their training stint, the 45-year-old Australian spoke in a virtual press conference on the need to find the right combination in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) conditions, his thoughts on rising Karnataka opener Devdutt Padikkal, RCB’s age-old problem of death bowling and more.

Excerpts:

On finding the right combination in UAE:

When we had the auction, we were planning a squad assuming we’ll play half our games at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. When you have a high-scoring ground as your home ground, we factor that into the make-up of our squad. Now with UAE, yes there’s a slight variation but conditions here are as close as it could get to India given the heat, humidity, and the wickets we’ll be playing on.

On Devdutt Padikkal:

That decision to retain him had been made prior to the Indian domestic season, and we saw what happened during the summer for Karnataka. He was magnificent. He is 20-year-old and the fact that he’s a left-hander as well, he’s going to be a favourite given that when it comes to the balance of the batting order, we do like to break up the right-left combination. He’s done everything he can to put his hand up to make his IPL debut this year, it’s now up to him to push his case forward. Excited by what he can potentially do.

On RCB’s death bowling:

Conditions will dictate who bowls at the death. At the Chinnaswamy, we had the plan of bringing some recognised name for death bowling. Obviously we got the experience of Chris Morris to come in and fill that role. We feel young Navdeep Saini is getting more and more exposure at the international level and has done well in that role last year.

On Kohli as captain:

I've been super impressed so far. The thing that stood out to me is that he obviously has that presence. The other thing he's got is this passion and energy for this group, a real affinity.

On players’ mental health:

Cricketers aren’t used to having such a long break. There will be a challenge, on the mental aspect, more so with younger players who are finding their way and learning their routines. We have spent extra time with them and used the expertise of our psychologist Chaitanya Sridhar.