Virat Kohli during a training session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar
As Royal Challengers Bengaluru prepares to go up against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener on Saturday (March 27, 2026), head coach Andy Flower looked back at fond memories from its maiden title run last season.
“The franchise worked hard for many years to get that star on our shirts. That was embodied most in Virat (Kohli)’s commitment to the franchise over such a long period of time,” Flower said at the pre-match press conference here on Friday.
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“But it is now 2026, and we are looking forward to this season’s challenge,” Flower said.
Flower drew a comparison between long serving RCB stalwart Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.
“When I was playing, I used to enjoy watching Sachin practice. The same goes here (with Kohli). I really enjoy watching masters of their art do their thing. Virat looks on top of his game. He looks very fit, very lean, very hungry. Watching him time and strike the ball in training — I think he’s at the peak of his prowess,” Flower said.
The former Zimbabwe captain stated that Hazlewood will not feature in Saturday’s (March 28, 2026) outing. “He won’t be ready for tomorrow; he’s just got off the plane. We’ll be monitoring his fitness very closely, and we are looking forward to him making his entrance into the IPL,” Flower said.
Flower termed the ‘impact player’ rule as an “interesting addition” to the sport. “Tactically it’s quite an interesting addition. I must say though that one of the things I love about cricket is the challenges you have in balancing your XI. It’s one of the things that makes selection a little bit tricky. The impact player rule hides that selection problem a little,” Flower added.
Published – March 27, 2026 07:59 pm IST
