New Delhi: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore have started their campaign intense pulsed light Heading into the 2026 season, batsman Devdutt Padikkal revealed the tactical shift behind their early success. RCB are top of the table with two wins in two matches, displaying a refined batting approach that blends caution with calculated attack.Speaking after convincing 43-point win chennai super kings In Bengaluru, Padikkar explained that the team has consciously addressed its past batting weaknesses. The core of the new strategy is to save wickets in the first half of the innings and then launch an all-out attack in the latter stages.“Keep the wicket and attack”Padikkal emphasized that the change in approach stems from lessons learned from last season. “Even last season we had a couple of poor games early on and ended up losing three or four wickets and then that put us at a disadvantage,” he said.“We had a conversation in the middle of last year that we need to make sure that when wickets behave this way, you have to make sure you have wickets in hand. Once the ball gets older, batting becomes a lot easier,” he added.The southpaw stressed that avoiding early collapse was key. “We had to make sure we weren’t three or four strokes behind 10-over. Once we were able to do that, we were able to go all out on every ball. From that point on, the way the whole team hit the ball was unbelievable,” he noted.This approach has paid dividends, with RCB registering a huge total and maintaining pressure on the opposition bowlers with well-timed acceleration.Padikkal’s progress and confidence boostPadikkal is in good form, scoring 61 and 50 in his first two games, and attributes his improvement in the white-ball game to a conscious shift in mentality and technique.“It was a lot of hard work and confidence. Making that change was not easy because I had to change the fundamentals of the type of cricket I wanted to play growing up,” he admitted.“This change was something I had to make consciously and the support staff at RCB did an excellent job of guiding me in the right way,” he added, stressing the role of the team environment in his transformation.Power hitting balance and the Tim David factorWhile T20 batting increasingly emphasizes power hitting, Padikkal believes this evolution is part of a natural development. “The batting has been taken to another level. Everyone is trying to hit big sixes and fours. Now the bowlers also need to up their game,” he said, adding that the conditions may eventually level the playing field.Padikkar also gave special praise to teammate Tim David, whose explosive 25-ball 70 destroyed the Chennai attack. “We see him doing it every day in practice. He knows exactly which bowler to target and when. That clarity makes a huge difference,” he said.
