‘Not your ideal lead-in to a qualifying game’: RCB head coach laments quick turnaround for team in playoffs

RCB head coach Andy Flower is not really upbeat about his team’s schedule in the last week of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season. They last played a match on May 3 and their clash against KKR on resumption got washed out due to rain. They are set to face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) today at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, while RCB also play the last league game of the season, against LSG on May 27.

If they finish in the top two in the points table, then they will have to travel from Lucknow to Mullanpur for the qualifier 1 on May 29. Rajat Patidar and his men will get less than 48 hours for the crucial playoff encounter in Mullanpur. “That’s not your ideal lead-in to a qualifying game. We’ll finish late, get to bed quite late, then travel 28th and play 29th, but that’s the situation in front of us. The best way is for everyone to take in the reality of that, deal with it and we’ll be ready for that game,” RCB head coach Andy Flower said.

Moreover, RCB were scheduled to play today’s game against SRH in Bengaluru but heavy rainfall in the Garden City meant that the BCCI had to shift the game to Lucknow. Reacting to the move, Flower stated that the team would’ve love to play their last league stage clash at home in front of the fans. 

“We’re disappointed not to be playing tomorrow’s game in Bangalore, but we’ve had to roll with that. We trained in Bangalore yesterday around lunch time, flew here, have a training session tonight [Thursday] and we’ll be ready to go. The boys have worked really well over the entire season, in the build-up to the first match. They’ve played some superb cricket through the season. Yes, we’ve had a little break now but for a couple of our players, that [break] has been a healthy thing,” Flower added.