Hesson and Katich were appointed to their respective positions as part of a team management overhaul that saw the departures of batting coach Gary Kirsten and bowling coach Ashish Nehra, following the franchise’s last-place finish in the 2019 season.

It was nothing new to a team that has perennially underachieved in the league, despite vast reserves of talent, especially in the batting. Kohli has overseen many of those underwhelming seasons, including the last three, none of which Bangalore have the made the playoffs of.

Most runs in T20Is ✅
Most 50s in T20Is ✅

The records just keep getting broken.
Maybe we need a new superlative for Virat. Can you suggest?#ViratKohli #INDvsSA #TeamIndia #PlayBold pic.twitter.com/gHez4RUjiE

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) September 19, 2019

With the captain calling all the major shots, it has led to questions about Kohli’s credentials to lead the side, but Hesson and Katich said there is no question that the star batsman remains the right candidate to take the team forward.

“From our point of view, we have been aligned about how we are going to go about things. We haven’t got that perception [of Kohli being autonomous] about Virat at all,” Katich said at a media interaction on Thursday, September 19. 

As a result, RCB haven’t quite been a force at home in the manner of other heavyweights, such as Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. “I have seen it [the pitch] evolve over the last four years,” Katich said. “It affected the balance of the team because it was playing differently to what the team had been used to in the past.

“You want to really utilise your home ground advantage for seven games, and if you make it a fortress which others teams have done at their venues, that becomes a big determining factor in whether you can make it to the playoffs. That’s one thing we certainly will be taking into account and making sure that it suits the balance of our team. We have to understand how it is going to play.”