'Ee sala cup RCB de' - Rayudu backs Patidar's men to make it 18th time lucky

The popular Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) slogan, Ee sala cup namde, which translates to "this year the cup is ours", has been doing the rounds over the years in IPL. It's never happened, not with the men's team. But Ambati Rayudu believes IPL 2025 could be that year - 18th time lucky.

"If you look at their team, they have a pretty set combination," Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. "If you see the teams that are not doing well in the IPL, they are still trying their combinations. But RCB is one team, along with Delhi [Capitals (DC) and Punjab [Kings (PBKS)] to some extent, who have got their combinations well set for the season.

"I have always enjoyed their [RCB's] cricket. We have fun at their expense, only because nobody talks about DC or Punjab. Only because RCB always has a team that can win the IPL. But somehow, they come short because of their own shortcomings. Nobody else defeats them, it's them. But this year, with [Rajat] Patidar [as captain], ee sala cup RCB de (this year the cup is RCB's)."

In Patidar's first year as captain, RCB have won all their three away games - in Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai - so far and lost one at home to sit third on points table following their 12-run victory against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Monday. Only net run-rate separates table-toppers DC, second-placed Gujarat Titans (GT) and RCB.

Sanjay Bangar echoed Rayudu views and heaped praise on Patidar's captaincy and tactics during the game against MI. Chasing 222, MI needed 138 runs from the final ten overs, and they had brought the equation down to 52 from four overs with six wickets in hand and, at that stage, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya looked set to finish it off. However, Patidar's use of fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazelwood, and left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya at the death saw RCB eke out a win. While Bhuvneshwar bowled the 16th and 18th overs, Hazlewood bowled the penultimate one. Handing over the ball to Krunal for the last one was also an unusual move but worked for RCB as he picked up three wickets and defended 18.

"For me, the biggest takeaway in that captaincy during those 20 overs is getting Bhuvi early," Rayudu said. "Because you generally associate Bhuvi to bowling either 19th or 20th. But getting Bhuvi early when they really needed experience, when they needed to get the game back into their control, I felt was a brilliant move.

"Because he could have gone [to] Krunal again, thinking that we have Hazlewood and Bhuvi. But even the execution from Bhuvi and Hazlewood was amazing. And this also shows this IPL is different, because there is no dew. Bowling yorkers even in the second innings has become slightly more easier. And also with the use of saliva. "

Bangar said that having just five bowlers might have been an "advantage as well" for RCB because Hardik "had numerous options" and "probably MI didn't really use the resources" at the right time.

"But that wasn't the case with RCB," Bangar said. "I just guess that also the type of batsmen that were there at No. 3 and No. 4 allowed Rajat to bowl those spinners [Krunal and Suyash Sharma] in tandem. Which wasn't the case with MI. Because MI always had this at the back of their mind. That they don't have to bowl spin to Rajat Patidar. And that played in RCB's hands. So he was pretty smart with that particular thing.

"And to hold back Krunal for the 20th over made absolute sense. Because you don't really want him to be bowling the 19th over, with Josh Hazlewood only having 10 or 12 to defend. So all in all, a very good day out for Rajat.

"For all you know, before the season began, everybody was talking about RCB not really having the depth in the spin department but here you have eight overs of spin [were] bowled at Wankhede and quite effectively, which was probably the difference between winning and losing."