Veteran India pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar recently opened up about how his conversations with veteran batter and IPL teammate Virat Kohli have changed over time as well. They both played an important role in RCB’s historic IPL 2025 campaign, where the team clinched their maiden title after 18 years under Rajat Patidar as well.
Speaking on the YouTube podcast ‘Talk with Manvendra,’ Bhuvneshwar Kumar said, “Things are different now. When we meet these days, we talk more about family or off-the-ground family matters because everyone has a family now. We talk about how we are doing in life other than cricket. Earlier, when we weren’t married and were younger, it was more about the usual fun and jokes boys have. So that’s where the change has come.”
“But I think on the ground we are professional. We never really need that bond to perform well on the field because if RCB has picked me, or picked Virat, or any other player, they want us to perform well on the ground regardless of whether we have a friendship or not. I think we know what we have to do on the ground. But off the ground, of course, as I said, things have changed in that way. Everyone has matured, and of course, we’ve grown older, so now the conversations are different,” he further added.
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However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar also opined on playing under Rajat Patidar and applauded how effortlessly he managed an experienced team with many senior players.
“It was very good. The best part was that since it was such an experienced team, I think Rajat didn’t have to do much. The best thing was that he didn’t interfere too much, but the areas where he did show leadership were exactly what is needed on the ground, that the leader should take decisions, and he took them very well. Because somewhere, when you have so many senior players and such an experienced team, they tend to hesitate in making decisions, but he didn’t. That was a quality of his leadership, that where it was needed, he made decisions, and where it wasn’t, he stayed completely relaxed. So, I think he knew exactly where to interfere in a good way and where not to,” he stated.
“This time, the biggest difference was that all the players in the playing XI won matches for the team in different games, in different situations, and in different roles. When you play such a big tournament with so many matches and so many teams, you can’t win the tournament based on the consistent performances of just one or two players. You need as many players as possible from your 11 or 12-member squad to perform. That’s exactly what happened with RCB. There were many matches where the bowlers did their job and many matches where the batters did it. As I said, in every situation, at every stage, some new player stepped up and won the game for the team,” Bhuvneshwar Kumar concluded.
