Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Bangalore Royal Challengers



Owner: UB Group

Franchise fee: $111.6 million

Most expensive player: Rahul Dravid - $1,035,000

Business tycoon Dr. Vijay Mallya owns the Bangalore Royal Challengers, named after one of Mallya's top brands. The team from the Garden City will be led by one of its favourite sons Rahul Dravid who is also its Icon Player. A formidable line-up, the squad has great talent with the likes of Indian Test cricket captain Anil Kumble along with Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, South Africa's Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn, Aussies Nathan Bracken and Cameron White. Youth will be represented by the U-19 Cricket World Cup winning captain Virat Kohli, Shreevats Goswami and Arun Kumar among others.

Charu Sharma is designated as the CEO of the team while former Kiwi captain Martin Crowe has also been roped in to be part of the team management. Former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad has been sought to coach the team. Red and golden yellow are the team colours. The Royal Challengers will be expected to shine in the IPL with their talent, determination and buoyancy.

Bangalore Royal Challengers

International players: Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe and Dillon du Preez (South Africa), Cameroon White and Nathan Bracken (Australia), Kevin Pietersen (England), Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder (New Zealand)

Indian players: Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Robin Uthappa, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, Wasim Jaffer, Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami, Suteesh R, Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar, Bhuvanesh Kumar, Karan Sharma, Saurav Bandekar, Tinu Yohanan, Bharat Chipli, B Akhil, Devraj Patil, J Arun Kumar, KP Appana, Sunil Joshi, Gauvar Dhiman, Jitendra Patil, Udit Patel, Mithun A. Aravind, S. Kedar Jadhav, Gautam CM, Raju Bhatkal, Rajesh Bishnoi, Ishank Jaggi and Rohit Sabharwal

Official Website : Bangalore Royal Challengers