Royal Challengers sparks off with royal ceremony

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya does everything in style and in flamboyant manner and when it comes to the launching of his UB group owned IPL Bangalore franchise then it would surely be the best as Mallya unveiled its team logo that has been named Royal Challengers late last night here on Wednesday.

The team’s sporting attire sparkle red and gold colour, which also added more glamour to the evening. Reebok has been roped in for the sporting gear and Louis Philippe for formals. Manoviraj Khosla has designed special uniforms for the cheerleaders.

"Cricket bonds billions of Indians across the world and it also a perfect platform for our brands to engage with young India,” UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya said.

On the occasion, Mallya cleared its stand by saying, “There will be no compromise on the cricketing standards and in further developing the entertainment potential."

“Nothing would deter the team from doing its best to win the inaugural Indian Premier League title,” Mallya added.

The Royal Challengers team Rahul Dravid as the team captain and Charu Sharma as the CEO while former New Zealand skipper Martin Crowe will focus on team’s strategic part and he is the Chief Cricket Officer.

Former India speedster and India’s bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad is the team coach while Evans Speachley of South Africa is the physiotherapist with Muthu Kumar as the assistant from Bangalore.

Royal Challengers picked up Pakistan batsman Misbah-ul-Haq and India under-19 captain Virat Kohli, who was termed as the prized catch by Vijay Mallya, New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor, Bangladesh left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq and India U-19 wicket-keeper batsman Shreevats Goswami during the second round of the IPL player auction.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS TEAM

Batsmen: Rahul Dravid (captain), S. Chanderpaul, Misbah-ul-Haq, Ross Taylor, Wasim Jaffer, V. Kohli, J. Arun Kumar and B. Chipli.

Bowlers: D. Steyn, Zaheer Khan, N. Bracken, B. Akhil, Anil Kumble, S. Joshi, A. Razzak, K.P. Appanna and Praveen Kumar.

All-rounders: J. Kallis, Cameron White and Vinay Kumar.

Wicketkeepers: M. Boucher, S. Goswami and Devraj Patil.