Bangalore Royal Challengers

Bangalore Royal Challengers is the team that is going to represent the city of Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the inaugural Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held in India. The team is owned by the liquor magnate Vijay Mallya, the chairman of UB Group. Charu Sharma is the CEO of the team and Rahul Dravid, the captain of the team is the Icon Player. Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, has also been signed as a member of the management team. Venkatesh Prasad, the former Indian fast bowler and the present bowling coach of India has been declared the coach for the team.

Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries’ bid of $111.9million for the Mumbai team.

Indian actresses Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif were signed as the brand ambassadors of the franchise.

Vijay Mallya wanted to associate one of his top-selling liquor brands, either ‘No. 1 McDowell’s’ or ‘Royal Challenge’ with the team. Ultimately, ‘Royal Challenge’ was chosen, and hence the team was given the name ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’. The jersey colours of the team are red and golden yellow, and the logo consists of the RC emblem with ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’ in standard format.
Players

The players in the team (except for Rahul Dravid, who was the Icon Player), were selected in an auction conducted by BCCI on 20 February 2008. South Africa’s Jacques Kallis at $900,000 became the costliest player to be selected to play for the Royal Challengers. This meant that Rahul Dravid, being the Icon Player would be paid $1,035,000 (15% more than the highest bid player in the team). Other players selected included the Indian Test cricket captain Anil Kumble along with his team-mates Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Aussies Nathan Bracken and Cameron White, South Africa’s Mark Boucher (Wicket Keeper) and Dale Steyn.

Batsmen

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Rahul Dravid (Captain/Icon Player) - India - Right-handed Batsman
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Shivnarine Chanderpaul - West Indies - Left-handed Batsman
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Wasim Jaffer - India - Right-handed Batsman
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Misbah-ul-Haq - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman
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Ross Taylor - New Zealand - Right-handed Batsman
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Arun Kumar J. - India - Right-handed Batsman
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Appanna K. P. - India - Right-handed Batsman
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Bharat Chipli - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicket Keepers

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Mark Boucher - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper
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Shreevats Goswami - India - Left-hand Batsman / Wicket keeper
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Devraj Patil - India - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper

Allrounders

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Jacques Kallis - South Africa - Right-arm fast-medium
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Cameron White - Australia - Right-handed Leg-break googly
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Sunil Joshi - India - Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox spin
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Akhil B. - India - Right-arm medium-fast
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Virat Kohli - India - Right-arm medium

Bowlers

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Anil Kumble - India -Right-armleg-break googly
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Zaheer Khan - India - Left-arm medium-fast
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Nathan Bracken - Australia - Left-arm fast-medium
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Dale Steyn - South Africa - Right-arm fast
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Praveen Kumar - India - Right-arm medium-fast
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Abdur Razzak - Bangladesh - Slow left-arm orthodox
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Vinay Kumar R. - India - Right-arm medium-fast

Administration and coaching staff

Front Office:

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Owner- Vijay Mallya
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CEO - Charu Sharma
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Adviser - Martin Crowe

Coaches:

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Head Coach - Venkatesh Prasad
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Assistant Head Coach - TBA
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Physiotherapist - TBA