Royal Challengers Bangalore carry with them a heavy baggage of being one of the strongest teams who have never won the IPL. But this time, captain Virat Kohli says, the “baggage” has been offloaded and a breakthrough season is awaited.

On the Royal Challengers’ YouTube show Bold Diaries, Kohli claimed that both he and AB de Villiers are in a better space this time.

“I (have) never felt so calm going into a season before. He (De Villiers) is coming from a very different space and he is enjoying his life and is very relaxed and fit as ever. I feel I am in a much better space, much more balanced, when it comes to the environment of IPL,” Kohli said.

So what has changed this season? “Disconnecting with things that have happened in the past and not taking that baggage, as we have done that way too many times,” he said, adding: “Just because we have a bunch of players that are so skilled, that is the reason why they have had so much expectation (from us).”

The feeling, Kohli said, is similar to that of 2016, the last time when the Royal Challengers qualified for the final. In the past three years, they haven’t even managed to make it to the play-offs.

“The 2016 IPL, we all loved to be a part of (it). Since then, this is the most balanced I have felt about (the) squad,” Kohli, who had struck four hundreds in the 2016 edition of the IPL, said.

Speaking about the squad, Kohli mentioned three players — South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris, Australia white-ball captain and batsman Aaron Finch and 23-year-old little known Aussie wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Philippe — whose presence is giving him hope for a better result this time.

“Morris brings in a lot of balance. Aaron Finch is someone who has experience of playing international cricket for a while. Some of the youngsters we have picked this time are quite exciting too, like Josh Philippe, a very exciting player,” the skipper said.

With the IPL this time being played across three venues — Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi — in the UAE which are close to each other, Kohli feels the arrangement will ensure a “level playing field”.

“It (the usual home and away system when it is held in India) gets hectic, conditions change...This time, it’s more of a level playing field and everything would now boil down to skill level rather than home advantage,” he said. “We have unpacked all bags and stacked clothes in the wardrobe. We go, practise, live in our own bio-bubble… It’s a more settled and calm feeling.”

A “settled and calm” Kohli also found time to thank English football star Harry Kane on Instagram. Kane had praised Kohli’s football “technique” after the India captain shared a picture of him playing the game at practice. Reacting to that, Kohli wrote: “@harrykane haha thanks mate. Coming from a technically gifted player like yourself, I know it’s legit observation.”