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Brendon McCullum: ‘RCB have too much white noise’

Kohli IPL
by Wisden Staff 2 minute read

Brendon McCullum has highlighted the biggest difference between the ideologies of IPL teams Royal Challengers Bangalore [RCB] and Chennai Super Kings [CSK], who have had starkly contrasting fortunes in the Indian Premier League.

Despite having star-studded line-ups for years, and possibly the cream of the crop T20 batters in Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers across seasons, RCB have famously never clinched the title even once.

For McCullum, who has represented both teams in a 109-match long IPL career, CSK have managed three titles in ten seasons because there’s very little “white noise” around them, unlike RCB.

The CSK team, led by MS Dhoni for several years, have maintained a sense of pride in the retaining a core set of players, who continue to do well, despite some of them being well in their 30s. RCB, on the other hand, have chopped and changed several times under Virat Kohli, but have never managed to claim the trophy in 12 attempts.

“One team gives selection loyalty and works on the team they have; the other chases a perfect team and doesn’t have a blueprint for how they are going to play. CSK has very little “white noise” around them, RCB have too much,” McCullum was quoted as saying in an excerpt from the book Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution.

RCB’s jinxed legacy is set to extend for some time now, with 13th edition of the now-postponed IPL looking far less likely to take place this year.

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