The all-round aspect was probably the best part of our season: Mike Hesson

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) found themselves out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after the loss against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Qualifier 2. 

However, it was still quite a promising campaign for the Faf du Plessis-led side. Despite a light show by their retained players, RCB crossed the line more often than not. While Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj had a tournament to forget, Glenn Maxwell failed to replicate last year's heroics. 

Mike Hesson, the Director of Cricket at RCB, reflected on the side's campaign. Hesson stated the Bangalore-based franchise rode to the playoffs on the back of a proper team effort rather than a one-person show.

"If you rely solely on two or three players, you're not going to make it to the playoffs. The beauty of our side has been we didn't necessarily rely on all of our retained players. We built a squad around our retained players, but we didn't necessarily have to rely on them for every game. That was probably the most pleasing aspect, the fact that so many different players stood out," Hesson said as quoted by News18.

While Siraj looked off-colour throughout the season, Maxwell and du Plessis blew hot and cold. Kohli's campaign was full of lows if we leave aside a few knocks. 

"Mohammed Siraj is a fine bowler; he didn't have his best tournament, but we know that he will come back strong. He just quite didn't get those new ball wickets, didn't get the ball swinging, and lost a little bit of confidence, but as I said, he will bounce back," Hesson added.

"Glenn Maxwell had a good all-round season with both bat and ball - very high strike rate, average close to 30, strike rate of 170 and went for seven an over with the ball. Sure, you always want more, but he's had a pretty good tournament,"

"At the top of the order, Virat (Kohli) and Faf (du Plessis). Obviously, we started with Virat at three and moved him to the top, and he certainly got better and better as the season went on. Look, he was in really good touch in the last four or five innings," he further cited.

However, Hesson backed the players and looked pleased with the way things panned out for the team this time around.

"There are always things you want to tweak. When you get knocked out of a tournament, there are always areas we need to improve, but all in all, pleased with the way the team gelled this season,"

The former New Zealand coach rued the last five overs of RCB's innings and opined that the lack of runs in that phase hurt their chances of winning the match.

"It's a fair reflection; 123 for 3 with five overs to go, we were very much in a position to get potentially 175-180 with (Glenn) Maxwell set along with (Rajat) Patidar. We lost those two wickets, and then in the last three overs, Obed McCoy and (Prasidh) Krishna bowled nicely, and we struggled to get any momentum. We only got 30 odd off the last five, probably leaving us 20 short."

"In the last five overs of the innings, our death run-scoring throughout the season has been exceptional. It's probably more at the top end where we didn't get that momentum, but other than today, we've pretty much nailed the last five overs of most innings," Hesson concluded.