RCB - Increasingly at home in the Chinnaswamy

That's a question that would have been laughed at not long ago. Between 2017 and 2024, no other team in the IPL had a worse home record than RCB at the Chinnaswamy. They lost 18 of the 34 games they played here in this period. So much so that a couple of years ago, around the same time, Mo Bobat, RCB's Director of Cricket, had said that it "was not easy to get home advantage at the Chinnaswamy." There were a number of factors at play here, including the small boundaries and the personnel that were at RCB's disposal. Between 2016 and 2023, RCB qualified for the playoffs thrice - and in none of these did they have the Chinnaswamy Stadium as their home base.

Halfway through the 2025 season, it felt that the bogey hadn't been lifted as RCB lost their first three matches at home. Their historic title run had a small blemish in that they couldn't do as well in front of their vociferous home crowd as they did away, where they won everything!

But something began to click in the latter half of the 2025 season, when they won back-to-back games. That run has extended to three games this season. You'd have to go back as far as 2013 - a different T20 era - to see RCB win as many matches consecutively at home.

The tide has turned, and there's enough reason to believe that these wins stitched together have not been happenstance. There have been different players to win the Man of the Match which alludes to very healthy form as a collective. But there are certain traits that run through as a common thread. Against LSG, Josh Hazlewood pounded away 23 balls in his four-over spell on a good length/back of length area to pick up his Man of the Match award. Hazlewood's dominance, especially inside the Powerplay of the first innings, underlined a clear pattern wherein batting could be made tough.

A two-paced surface with variable bounce compounds the vulnerabilities for hitters. The unpredictability can be extremely difficult to gauge, as Rishabh Pant found out, rather painfully. Cross-batted shots are 'frenemies.' One can go outside the stadium, but another can be chopped on from the same length simply because it bounced a fraction lower. And Hazlewood showed that he is a master at exploiting these lengths even as he is returning to top-flight cricket. So it's no surprise that last year, when RCB started their current streak of home victories, it was Hazlewood, like on Wednesday, that was the Man of the Match.

RCB were lucky that Hazlewood could do this early in the match, where tosses have played a critical role as well. When RCB lost all five tosses at home in the previous season, they were sent in to bat and were wounded early. As the roles were reversed, it was not difficult to see why Hazlewood is so highly valued. RCB have become smarter too in using him at the right moments. Against LSG, he bowled a third straight over upfront inside the first half of the innings, the last of which also yielded the wicket of a scratchy Nicholas Pooran, who swiped across a length delivery to chop on.

The Chinnaswamy smarts have been in the making for a while now. Bobat, in an otherwise tell-all interview, remained coy about revealing the secrets of taming the Chinnaswamy. "I was really disappointed that the last home game against KKR was rained off [in 2025]," he recalls in that interview, revealing a change in mindset internally. "In terms of what you need in your team, again, I'll let other people try and figure out what that looks like. I don't want to give too many answers away," he had said.

In 2026, the answer echoes louder as all three visiting teams - Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings, and Lucknow Super Giants - have not been able to exploit the Chinnaswamy conditions as well as RCB does. Rajat Patidar's men have looked equally clear and in control of their plans while defending totals or chasing. Case in point being that against LSG, RCB's pacers got five wickets from full-length deliveries. It's a stat that would spin a wrong story unless coupled with the fact they had ploughed over 82% of deliveries that were either in good length or back-of-length. No other team has found a way, as yet, to replicate or negate these tactics successfully.

Complementing the fast bowling template is the defensive spin category that RCB now prefers as opposed to the ilk of Yuzvendra Chahal or Wanindu Hasaranga. Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma bring more street smarts than fine art, but fit into the jigsaw seamlessly. The batting, too, has shown that they are adapting to situations and attacks. They've outbatted the opposition in the two previous wins at the Chinnaswamy this season and now outbowled one as well.

"I think this year we are very smart about the wicket, we are adjusting to the wicket, we are tactically working, and I think that's why we are winning all the games at home. I think that shows that we are working smartly and efficiently," reckoned vice-captain Jitesh Sharma at the end of the match.

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