Secret to RCB’s IPL triumph: Four wise men, ‘Team No. 5’ that formed the blueprint for auction, crafty execution of plans on field

At the auctions, RCB ended up with Phil Salt for opening role, Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell for middle-order power, Tim David and Romario Shepherd for finisher’s role and Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Thushara and Lungi Ngidi as overseas quicks.

Four men, in particular, apart from the senior players, played the key role in this vital period before auctions. Andy Flower, the celebrated coach; Mo Bobat, who had overseen England’s white-ball revolution to win the 2019 world cup and 2022 T20 world cup; Dinesh Karthik, who had turned mentor-cum-batting-coach; and the analyst Freddie Wilde, who complimented the trio from providing all the data and numbers – two ingredients that can’t overlooked in T20s.

Nine different teams were prepared, not with all player names inked in but with the roles defined for each slot. And it was team no. 5 that got their most attention. (RCB video)

The actual blueprint had begun soon after the 2023 edition. In July that year, they had pulled off a coup by getting Andy Flower in as their head coach, which set the motion in place. The Zimbabwean great got the 2024 season to figure out which of the players had a future in the franchise and what needs to be done when the new cycle began in 2025.

The post-mortem of their previous season had shown startling numbers: the distribution of Indian capped players wasn’t balanced where just two of them (Virat Kohli and Karthik) had the majority of experience (over 400 caps) with Mohammed Siraj at just 69. They were not spending big enough on core Indian players and were spending too low on bowlers.

To cover all these holes, they went about finalising where their four overseas players would slot in. An overseas spinner was looked at as one who could cost balance by Andy Flower, and Dinesh Karthik wanted the foreigners to be multi-dimensional. After exploring 9 different combinations, they settled for the team no. 5, as they say in a series of videos on their website.

Why the picks?

In previous seasons, RCB have had the likes of Chris Gayle, TM Dilshan, Faf du Plessis as explosive openers. In recent times, apart from Du Plessis, Will Jacks, who could also bowl off-spin, had offered them hope last season but what made RCB turn towards Salt was his incredible scoring spree. Karthik had insisted on a partner for Kohli who could go from ball No 1, particularly against spinners, and is capable of hitting boundaries in a row. The reasoning was that it would allow Kohli to flow along at his pace.

One of the videos show Wilde throwing in the numbers that stated that Salt scores 6-8 runs in an over 28% times, scores 12-15 runs an over 30% of times. It prompts Karthik to double-check: “Are you telling me one in two overs he scores 16 runs all by himself? How is it physically possible?” From a list that includes Rachin Ravindra, Will Jacks, Du Plessis, Jos Buttler and Devon Conway, Salt ended up getting the maximum votes to be their top pick at the auction and they acquired him for Rs 11.5 crore. Salt ended up with 403 runs at a strike-rate of 175.98.

The Australian Josh Hazlewood has been their star strike pacer of the tournament. Apart from him RCB had their sights on Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Starc, Jofra Archer and Trent Boult. While Archer’s injury concerned them, they felt Boult might be unusable at the death. With Hazlewood, plenty of factors stood out. His natural length would be handy in all conditions, and particularly at their home at Chinnaswamy stadium. He can begin his spell in the fourth over and provide control in the middle and be effective at the death. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar short-listed as the Indian quick to go after, thanks to his exceptional record in T20s, Hazlewood was seen as the seamer who could make the difference and his 22 wickets vindicated it.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru players celebrate with the winners trophy after their win in the Indian Premier League final cricket match against Punjab Kings at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

For the middle-order slot, Karthik’s requirement was simple. “No 5 is the most pivotal role as far as I’m concerned. He either comes in when there is a collapse or he has to take us home,” he says. Flower had thrown Bethel in for the role, before Karthik interjected. “He is an exceptional talent, but I don’t think he is ready right now. He is going to come good in the second and third year.” From a pool that included Harry Brook, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis and Rovman Powell, what made RCB go for Liam Livingstone was his ability to bowl spin (off-spin and leg-spin). In the end, after winning, Kohli would jump on to the arms of Livingstone and roar in joy.

For the remaining one overseas slot as noted in Team No. 5, the finisher with the capability to bowl, two names figured in the list – Tim David and Romario Shepherd. And they got both for Rs 4.5 crore, which allowed them to keep their purse for two other important Indian buys.

With Karthik no longer around to play the finisher role, he had identified Jitesh Sharma to excel in it. And among the names that featured in the discussion were Abdul Samad, Nehal Wadhera, Abhinav Manohar and Mahipal Lomror. “Jitesh even if he plays few deliveries, has the ability to make an impact,” is how Karthik put it, while naming him as his pick for the role. They spent Rs 11 crore at the table and it was his unbeaten 85 in the Qualifier I that booked them a place in the final. Even in the final, his attack on Kylie Jamieson in the vital 17th over that bled 23 runs helped them reach a very competitive score.

For a franchise that was criticised for letting go Yuzvendra Chahal in 2022, they had plans to bring him back this time as well, but not at the cost of compromising batting depth. With the need to have a defensive spinner for home conditions high on pecking order, they found in Krunal Pandya an ideal option. Capable of bowling defensive lines, Flower identified him as one who could also build partnerships and could pair up with a wrist-spinner. In the final, he walked away with a Man of the Match performance, forming a reliable pair with leg-spinner Suyash Sharma through the campaign.

In the end, the homework of four wise men in building the team and execution of the plans by the captain Rajat Patidar and players did the trick. Tears of joy flowed on a moonlit Ahmedabad night.