The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League is set to begin on September 19 when previous year's finalists, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings meet in Abu Dhabi. All the sides are breaking sweat in the training sessions as they gear up for the upcoming edition of the tournament.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, which bears a new look with change in coaching staff and the arrival of Mike Hesson as director of cricket operations, will also be aiming for a better outing than the one in 2019, when they finished at the bottom of the table.
In a video posted on the franchise's official Twitter profile, the side's captain Virat Kohli said that he himself felt good from the first training session after landing in the UAE.
"From fitness point of view everyone is looking great, everyone is in good shape. It's a matter of feeling good and I think I felt good from the first session onwards," Kohli said in a video posted on RCB's twitter handle.
"Obviously, there are few things that you try and rectify along the way and once you reach your optimum mind set and you enter competition you just want to stay in that as much as possible."
The India captain said the the team management's focus during the two-week training period in the UAE was a balanced approach to avoid injuries to players.
"We don't want to be a maniac like doing 6 sessions in six days. We gave ample off time to the boys which we will continue to do along the course of the these next few training sessions also," Kohli said.
"First few days we are just getting our eye in, getting back in thick of things after 5 months, it's a bit different, try and get into the frame of mind which you usually want to be. It takes a bit of time, in these session now we are mostly batting in the middle, trying to figure out hitting angles, understanding the pace of wicket and all these.
"I am very very happy with how the team is shaping up," said the talismanic batsman.
"Few shoulders were sore initially because we threw after months, suddenly you realise a few muscles were asleep. But I think the guys are now getting back into the intensity level we want," the skipper added.
RCB will open their IPL campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on September 21 in Dubai.
