Kirsten hopes that amid the 'structural changes' that are coming for RCB, the continuity of players doesn't suffer. © BCCI

Nearing the end of another disappointing campaign, RCB head coach Gary Kirsten has agreed with the need for "structural changes" to turn the fortunes around of the Bengaluru-based franchise, which has under-performed in the IPL - particularly in the last three seasons, including this one, and failed to make the playoffs in each of them.

Kirsten had joined RCB as a batting coach last year, before taking over the reigns this season, but has failed to bring the best out of a team which, year on year, is given top billing based on the star cast.

"When you look at the beginning before IPL starts and you look at every team, I think some of the experts were saying that we were going to get into the playoffs," Kirsten told reporters in Bengaluru on Friday (May 3). "There are some structural changes that need to be made that have maybe been around for quite a long time. This is my first year as the head coach, so I've got a better understanding of what those are. We'll certainly discuss with our owners and look into that for next year."

This isn't Kirsten's first experience as head coach in the IPL, a competition that he singles out for its intensity, as he has previously been in charge of Delhi Daredevils for a couple of seasons, presiding over two horrid campaigns, that resulted in his contract being terminated one year early. But in both cases, with Delhi and Bangalore, he's taken over teams that were already struggling.

"Unfortunately there are no quick fixes in IPL, you need to move as quickly as you can to get the results you're looking for. And sometimes when you're making quite a lot of shifts around, it takes time. I've always been a fan of - as I'm sure all the coaches are in this IPL - continuity. You want to try and build your core of players and build a culture where you can keep coming back to the same players. I think the most successful franchises in IPL have done that. We're searching for that in RCB. While there might be some structural change next year, I'm hopeful and confident we'll have some continuity in our players. Because we need to really start building a core of players that we believe in, and back them."

Coming to this particular season, his cause has been further hampered by the unavailability of Nathan Coulter-Nile, compounding the death bowling woes that the franchise is notorious for. Initially expected to join midway through the tournament, after his international commitments in UAE, the Australia paceman opted out altogether citing a back niggle.

"I think one of the toughest things we've had to deal with this season is our international fast bowler never arrived, in Coulter-Nile. For two years actually. So that's been quite a tough thing to deal with."

By that point however, RCB were already in the dumps after they'd suffered six straight defeats to begin with. But things have been much better in the second half of the tournament, as the Kohli-led side have started expressing themselves more without worrying about the play-offs. The captain's message of 'having fun' isn't something that Kirsten necessarily buys. "You are only having fun when you are winning," he retorts, but the South African will take any encouragement that he gets.

"It's been a disappointing season. Obviously we would have liked to have had better results. I've been very encouraged with the second half of the season, since we only got two points in the first half. But we've won four of our last seven games, and one of them was a rained-out game. So that's kind of back to the kind of consistency you need. We started to really get things going in the second half, but unfortunately, in IPL if you have a bad start you're always going to be struggling."

RCB have one final game left, which is also an opportunity to sign off on a high in front of an extremely supportive home crowd. The hosts, much like the visitors SRH, will be missing key players who have departed to join their national teams ahead of the World Cup. It presents an opportunity to try new players. But Kirsten's attitude is very clear about the way they'll approach the game.

"We're going in tomorrow's game to want to win it and we've picked the team that we think is best suited to win that game."