Virat Kohli have urged his Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammates to ‘not waste even a minute’ ahead of another grueling two months of non-stop action in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which starts on March 28. Having won the title for the first time in 18 years in the previous edition, pressure will heavily be on RCB as they gear up for title defence.
Unlike the previous years, RCB have started their preparation quietly, scrapping the RCB Unbox event. Addressing RCB’s first practice session at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Kohli emphasized on the need to maintain top intensity that helped them winning their maiden title last season.
“We worked really hard over the last two to three seasons to achieve what we did last year, and it’s only going to get tougher because other teams are going to come hard at us,” Kohli told the bunch which had several new faces, alongside head coach Andy Flower.
Emphasising urgency from day one, he added, “We don’t waste these days. We stay ahead. So, switch on now. Let’s not waste even a minute of any session that we are a part of. We must give our 120 per cent for these two and a half months.”
While RCB retained the core of their squad ahead of the IPL 2026 auction, the defending champions added the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Jordan Cox, Vicky Ostwal and Satvik Deswal during the mini-auction.
