BENGALURU: For over 15 years, Royal Challengers Bengaluru couldn't do one of the most foundational things needed to become a dominant side. Win at home.
But, over the last few years, they have been doing one of the hardest things in an elite franchise-based league. Win away from home.
It's why the franchise ended their long wait for a title. It's why the team have let go of apprehensions of playing in front of their own fans. It's why the holders are no longer one of the league's punching bags — that mantle has safely been passed on to some of the other sides. It's also why they have begun the season with three wins in four.
They rocked up to the Wankhede the other night, looked the five-time champions in the eye, scored 240 and won with 18 runs to spare. Since the beginning of the 2024 season, they have only lost six matches away from home. In terms of wins, they have 13 in the same time period, again one of the best by this metric. It has directly resulted in them being the only team to qualify for the knockouts in both 2024 and 2025.
Some of the issues of playing at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium has been well documented. The postage-stamp nature of the ground and a usually good batting surface (the complexion has changed in the last year or two) has meant the bowlers have traditionally suffered here. But they have improvised to become a lethal side away from home.
In the past, they were a team whose parts were lesser than their sum. Now, they are greater than the sum of their parts. They have installed a data-driven culture at the club and have followed where the evidence has taken them. The likes of Phil Salt, Josh Hazlewood — two overseas stars who are key to what they do up top in both facets of the game — were pursued and purchased. Players were targeted not based on the names at the back of their jerseys but what they brought to the table.
In the past, players left the franchise before rediscovering their mojo. These days, players rediscover their fun after coming here. Even in this auction, the presence of mind to pick a proven T20-ready overseas replacement for Hazlewood — Jacob Duffy — is praise-worthy. Under the previous regime, there were certain gaps. This leadership group legislate for almost everything.
Can this group of players — who went the whole league stage unbeaten away from home in 2025 — start aping those results at home. It's why the next week promises a lot of intrigue as they begin a nine-day, three-match at home sequence.
Normally, they would fear such a run. These days, they are sensing an opportunity to further solidify their place at the top of the table (they will be third when the match gets underway). Coach Andy Flower had spoken about the need to start picking up more wins at home before the start of the season.
"We lost our first three matches at Chinnaswamy last year, and we learned from those experiences," he had said. "Conditions might be slightly different this time as well, so we'll have to assess that. But at your home venue, you should have a better understanding of the nuances of the conditions than your opposition. We've been practising here and talking a lot about those aspects, so I'd like to think we'll be slightly ahead of the opposition on our own surface."
If the first two home matches of the season are anything to go by, they have clearly learned their lessons. Against Chennai, they targeted an above-par score. Versus Hyderabad in the opener, they went early and aggressive with the ball as the surface had some life.
Win against Lucknow on Wednesday and they will have won a hat-trick of games at home, on strips where they have struggled over the last 10 years.
