'Everybody has chipped in at different times' - Aaron, Moody laud RCB's team structure

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) behind-the-scene efforts of shaking off their reputation of being reliant on "superstars" has paid off magnificently as a ninth Player-of-the-Match in Suyash Sharma secured their spot in the IPL 2025 final on Thursday evening.

They've found match-winners in nearly every corner of the playing XII. New recruits and seasoned pros alike have delivered at different points, helping RCB find answers at every step. Varun Aaron, explained further, on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out.

"At the end of the day, you've got to attribute it to eight [nine] players being man of the match throughout the season," Aaron summed it up. "Because RCB have always been dominated by a few players, a few big batters, I would say, did a bulk of the lifting. But there was always talks about, after Virat Kohli, who's the highest [Indian] run-scorer? Till last year, it was Rahul Dravid. This year, that has changed.

"Phil Salt has come in, he's played a really big hand. Devdutt Padikkal was instrumental in the first half. Now, you've got somebody like Jitesh Sharma standing up. Rajat Patidar is looking good, even from last game, though he didn't get too many runs.

"So, there are signs, and then Tim David comes in, plays brilliantly. Romario Shepherd, what an innings. So if you actually think about it, so many moments from RCB straightaway comes to mind that, you know what, everybody's chipped in at different times, when they were down and out.

"Obviously, Josh Hazlewood, huge addition. Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] again today, brilliant. Krunal Pandya and Suyash, again, before the season, we were talking about their spin. 'You know what, RCB don't have the best spin attack,' but their spinners have stood up better than anybody else."

Apart from different match-winners stepping up, Tom Moody was most impressed by the balance of the overall team.

"I think their squad, and particularly their playing XI or XII that they've gone with throughout the whole season has been the big difference between previous years," Moody said. "It's a better balanced side, far better balanced side. It's not top heavy. There's opportunities for other players to have an impact in the game, where previously you look at RCB and it was always the top three and then you're concerned about what follows that.

"But you look at their side now, it's just got a better balance to it. And their bowling attack, aside from the fact that they don't have any sort of real mystery to their spin, but their spin has dovetailed nicely into the hard work that the pace bowlers have done."

RCB's collective spirit has become their greatest strength this season, one that could be the key to ending their long IPL title drought on June 3 in Ahmedabad. As Aaron put it best: "It's just a story of guys stepping up more than they have stepped up before."