Operation Sindoor may have played a role in RCB finally winning IPL after 18 years

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower said that the unexpected mid-season suspension of IPL 2025, which occurred due to ‘Operation Sindoor’, was a game-changing moment that gave his injury-hit squad a second wind.

At the start of the tournament and before the temporary suspension, RCB also had a punishing 17,084-kilometer travel schedule, which got better during the second leg of the tournament.

The week-long break, enforced on May 9 due to military escalation between India and Pakistan, came as a blessing in disguise for RCB. It allowed captain Rajat Patidar to recover from a finger injury and pace spearhead Josh Hazlewood to return after completing shoulder rehab in Australia.


“Even this evening while we were celebrating, a couple of guys mentioned to me that the break gave Hazlewood time to recover, and crucially, it gave Rajat time to recover with his hand,” said Flower following RCB's historic triumph.

RCB’s title run was already a massive ask, with seven away games and the league's most demanding travel schedule — more than 17,000 kilometers crisscrossing the country. Add to that injuries, and their eventual win appears all the more heroic.

"But we still missed Tim David and Devdutt Padikkal from our initial squad. They were huge parts of our campaign," Flower added.

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Hazlewood made an emphatic return, picking up 22 wickets in just 12 matches to finish as the team’s leading wicket-taker.

“Absolutely, you won’t get a better experience than this,” Hazlewood told broadcasters about returning mid-season.

Patidar, too, stood tall with the bat — scoring 312 runs at a strike rate of 143.77 in 15 games — all while leading the team in his debut season as captain. Flower lauded the 31-year-old for not just his cricketing skill but also his composure amid scrutiny.

"I think one of the most impressive things about what Rajat has done this year is that, as an inexperienced captain, he hasn’t let it affect him. I don’t think it has impacted his batting at all,” Flower said.

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"I’ve watched him closely as a character, and he is still the same lovely, gentle, polite Rajat Patidar that we knew last year. He hasn’t changed at all in that regard. Captaining RCB is a really tricky job. When I think back to how poorly I captained at his age, I’ve got tremendous respect for how he’s carried himself under such scrutiny, especially while leading some big players," he added.

"You can't underestimate the calmness he showed in leading a star-studded franchise. He made good decisions under immense pressure, and that deserves a lot of respect,” Flower said.

(With inputs from TOI)