IPL 2018: Daniel Vettori speaks about nature of Chinnaswamy pitch

What's the story?

Royal Challengers Bangalore coach Daniel Vettori has spoken about the M.Chinnaswamy stadium pitch ahead of the 2018 IPL season, deeming it to be as good as "the Chinnaswamy of old", as his side aims to win their first title in eleven attempts.

"The pitch seems to have improved this season. The guys trained on one of the main wickets yesterday and they were really happy with it. Touch-wood, it will be like the Chinnaswamy of old", he said, according to the Royal Challengers Bangalore website.

In case you didn't know...

The Bangalore side, after finishing as runners-up in the 2016 season, came a cropper last year, with many believing that the pitch, generally host to run-fests, was sluggish and not ideal for the T20 format, skewed too much in the bowlers' favour.

The side, despite having the batting firepower of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle, finished last in the 2017 season.

The heart of the matter

Vettori lamented that the pitch prepared last year wasn't ideal for the team composition that they had lined up, and the host of injuries the star player suffered added to their woes.

"We had a lot of injuries and we had a wicket that we didn't adapt to, the wicket was very different to what we were used to and what we had built the squad around", he said.

What's next?

Retaining their best from last year, the Bangalore side has further bolstered their line-up this year, specifically in the bowling department, as they look forward to win the elusive trophy for the first time since 2008.

Author's take

The Chinnaswamy pitch played host to a number of low-scoring games last year, with the surface acting contrary to the belter that has traditionally been on display. Owing to it, the natural free-flowing strokeplay of Kohli and De Villiers was hindered, leading to a strain in the already frail middle-order, which eventually led to RCB's horrid run last year.

An improved surface will help the star batsmen pack a lot more punch this time.

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