"It's been a great start": Shane Bond lauds RR pacers ahead of RCB clash

Guwahati (Assam) [India], April 9 (ANI): Rajasthan Royals (RR) fast bowling coach Shane Bond has praised the team’s fast bowling unit after a strong start to the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

Speaking during a pre-match press conference ahead of RR’s clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Thursday, Bond said, “It’s been a great start, actually.

I think when you start every IPL campaign, particularly on the back of a tough one last year, it always brings a little bit of nervous energy. I think not only the fast bowling group, but the bowling group in general and the team have played really well.”

Bond added that there is a growing confidence within the squad. “There’s a quiet confidence about the way we’re going about things. I think as soon as you’ve got more wins than losses in this competition, you can relax a little bit.

Even off the field, it means guys can tend to open up a little bit more. We’re still spending a lot of time talking about the areas we can improve, which is good when you’re 3-0 rather than the other way around.”

Bond also highlighted the depth and diversity within RR’s bowling attack. “We’ve got a really nice bunch of bowlers, all very different, but a lot of competition within the squad as well, which is a nice place to be,” Bond said.

RR head into the clash with a 100 per cent record this IPL season.

The Royals brushed aside Chennai Super Kings in their opener at Guwahati, then edged past Gujarat Titans in a final-over thriller in Ahmedabad before overcoming five-time champions Mumbai Indians in their previous home outing.

Bond also lauded captain Riyan Parag for his brilliant skill set in managing the team’s bowlers during the ongoing 2026 IPL season.

Speaking on specific strategic decisions this season, Bond said, “I think the captain takes a fair bit of credit.

I’ve really enjoyed the way Riyan Parag has managed the bowlers in particular. We’ve talked a lot about making sure we’re getting throw overs quick enough to give him the time to have that communication, especially as a new captain, to get to understand the bowlers and manage those pressure situations. There’s a lot of data and information out there as well.”

Bond emphasised the team’s approach to simple but effective game plans. “We want to make things reasonably simple, pretty simple game plans.

Obviously, we’ve got some bowlers with some different strengths, but head coach Kumar Sangakkara talks a lot about assessing the conditions. Even though we’ve got these plans, it’s the conditions first, and then we go about executing after that.”

Highlighting recent matches, Bond added, “You saw that in the Gujarat game at the back end, where we bowled a lot of full and fast stuff, and also the way that we did it against Mumbai as well, the different plans that we had.

That’s been one of the strengths of the group so far, assessing those conditions. It’s always fun when you’re winning, right, but there’s a long way to go in the competition. Hopefully, we can just play consistently like we are, because if we do, then we’re going to be tough to beat.”

RR captain Parag will be keen to make it three wins from three in Guwahati when they face RCB in their last home encounter of the season at the venue.

The Royals will shift bases to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur after the match.

Meanwhile, RCB also head into the fixture having won both their matches in the ongoing campaign.

The Royal Challengers beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in the season opener before registering a 43-run win over Chennai Super Kings in their second game.

RR vs RCB squads:

Rajasthan Royals: Riyan Parag (captain), Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira, Ravi Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Lhuan-Dre Pretorius, Shimron Hetmyer, Aman Rao, Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Yudhvir Singh, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Nandre Burger, Sushant Mishra, Kuldeep Sen, Adam Milne, Brijesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Vignesh Puthur, Yash Punja.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (captain), Virat Kohli, Tim David, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Jacob Bethell, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, Mangesh Yadav, Satvik Deswal, Jordan Cox, Kanishk Chouhan, Vihaan Malhotra, Vicky Ostwal. (ANI)

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