After a comprehensive win against Rising Pune Supergiant in their opening match of VIVO IPL 2017, Kings XI Punjab will take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their second game of the season. Speaking to the media ahead of the game, KXIP’s fielding coach, R Sridhar was asked about his team’s plans for RCB. The coach replied that his team had worked on definite plans for the opposition, but did not want to reveal the plans made or the strategies discussed. He said, “I don’t want to share what strategy we have against the best batsmen in the in world. (However), definitely we have concrete plans.” “Both teams are coming in with a win. At this stage, it is about building momentum going forward. We will have a look again at their line-up, name our best XI, and make sure that we put our best foot forward in the match,” he added.

Discussing fielding, which is a key component of the game, especially in the shorter format, he said, “I am pretty happy with the way fielding has evolved. I think we have some very good fielders - like David Miller and the captain himself, Glenn Maxwell. Then we have Mohit Sharma, who is probably among the best fast-bowling fielder in the world. In and around them, we have some exciting youngsters. We also have KPIs in place for what we want to achieve (going forward). Apart from the odd miscommunication (we are doing well). I am happy with the way we are evolving.”

"Against RPS, except the one miscommunication between Manan and T Natarajan we did well as a fielding unit,” he said when asked about the fielding lapse that gave Ajinkya Rahane a life while he was still on a single-digit score.

Giving an insight into the different aspects of fielding, Sridhar said, “When you are playing a game that lasts four hours, you’ve got to be more aggressive and intense. Everybody has got a different technique and you need to factor in all that.”