It hasn’t been the start both teams would have hoped for, already having lost two matches each. Bangalore Royal Challengers’ biggest problem has been their top-order batting: they have lost a wicket in the first over in every match, and end-of-Powerplay scores of 29 for 3, 46 for 2, and 31 for 2 aren’t the best of platforms.

They now come up against a team which has one of the weaker bowling attacks around, a Kings XI Punjab outfit that is struggling to cope with the loss of Brett Lee, Sreesanth and Jerome Taylor. Another key performer they are missing is Shaun Marsh, who invariably provided them a cracking start last season.

While rain has dogged much of the tournament, no team has suffered as much as Punjab, both of whose games have been curtailed before even the tactical time-out was reached. They’ll be hoping for a full match, and one that will finally get them off the mark.

Continue reading →

Ray Jennings, the Bangalore Royal Challengers coach, expects Rahul Dravid to play a key role as a leader and a batsman for the second IPL in South Africa. The franchise had replaced Dravid with Kevin Pietersen as captain last month but Jennings said Dravid would still be crucial to the team’s tactical planning in the short period that he is available.

Jennings expects Dravid to reach Johannesburg, the team’s training base, on April 12 or 13 and be part of the setup till his return, possibly early in May, to be with his wife who is expecting a child around that time. There has been a considerable amount of speculation on Dravid’s availability for the tournament, especially against the backdrop of his removal from the captaincy, and the kind of role he would play.

Continue reading →

Royal Challengers Bangalore (also referred to as RCB) is an Indian Premier League team, based in the city of Bangalore. The team is owned by the liquor magnate Vijay Mallya, through his flagship firm UB Group. Brijesh Patel is the CEO of the RCB and Kevin Pieterson is the captain. Rahul Dravid is the team’s Icon Player, while Ray Jennings, the former South African coach, is the coach.

History
Indian Premier League is a cricket tournament being organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and backed by the International Cricket Council (ICC). For the inaugural tournament to be held in Apr-Jun 2008, the BCCI had finalised a list of 8 teams who will be participating in the tournament. The teams representing 8 different cities of India, including Bangalore, were put up on auction in Mumbai on 20 February 2008 and the Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries’ bid of $111.9 million for the Mumbai team. Bollywood actresses Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone, and Sandalwood film stars Ramya and Upendra are the brand ambassadors of the team.

Continue reading →