Royal Challengers Bangalore have South African edge in Champions League T20
The Champions League (CLT20) starts from 10th September 2010 in South Africa. The second edition of CLT20 is getting more attention day by day as it is being broadcasted to an international and global level to attract more cricket viewers. Making their second appearance in the CLT20, Royal Challengers Bangalore, under the captaincy of veteran Indian spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anil-Kumble-c44737 are high spirited about the entire tour and look forward to give other teams good competition.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who stood third in the third season of the Indian Premier League 2010, is owned by Vijay Mallya. The team is coached by former South African coach Ray Jennings, which gives the IPL team a comparative advantage over other teams as their coach is giving them a flavour of South African cricket. With Kumble’http://www.senore.com/Cricket/S-Rock-c87646 solid captaincy and some proven Twenty20 cricketers the RCB surely are one of the favourites to clinch the title this season.
The team is looking in good shape in likes of veteran South African batsman Jacques Kallis, also the leading run scorer in the IPL 2010, averaging over 45.00 with 572 runs to his name in just 16 games. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid also known as the “wall”, and young Black Caps talented batsman Ross Taylor. RCB is surely one of the strongest batting sides in this 20-over format tournament of the global game of cricket.
Skipper Kumble believes that the speed at which teams adapt to the pitches provided in South Africa will play a crucial role in the short tour of CLT20. Kumble says, “It is the first tournament for a lot of teams”, also adding, “In South Africa, it is the beginning of the season and it is the first game of the season for some of the players in RCB as well. The biggest challenge is how quickly you acclimatise to the conditions and the need to start well in the tournament”.
Not to forget the leading bowlers of IPL 2010 are also included in the RCB squad in lights of veteran Indian spinner and current skipper Kumble, who has taken 17 wickets at a strike rate of 6.42 in partnership with Vinay Kumar who has take 16 wickets in his 14 match appearance. Their bowling power is also backed by Indian pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Praveen-Kumar-c82600 and veteran South African all-rounder Kallis.
The RCB squad is as follows; Anil Kumble (C), Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Nayan Doshi, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915, Dillon du Preez, Balachandra Akhil, Jacques Kallis, Cameron White, and Robin Uthappa (wicket-keeper/batsman), with coach Raymond Jennings other support staff members are Sanath Kandoor, Evan Speechley, Ramesh Mane, Prasanna Agoram, Brijesh Patel, Basu Shanker and Avinash Vaidhya.
Several players of RCB come from South Africa, including the coach and other senior players. Alongside the mere fact that RCB were one of the finalist of the 2009 IPL held in South Africa, increases their odds to win the upcoming CLT20.
Kumble believes, “We can take some confidence going to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 having done well there in IPL 2. Our coach Ray Jennings also understands the South African conditions well. With Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn around, those conditions should suit our bowling as well”.
RCB becomes one of the most competitive teams in the tour, as the franchise itself has spent several hundred thousand dollars in keeping their best overseas players such as Jacques Kallis, Cameron White and Ross Taylor. Due to the tournaments regulations the franchise has paid US$200,000 per player for this year’s CLT20.
With all said and done, statistics speak for themselves with so many South Africans in the team, and the RCB’s track record in South African conditions speaks for itself. The confident RCB skipper looks forward to a well-spirited cricketing environment as the cricketing world has been full of headlines regarding the Pakistani player’s spot-fixing controversies in the on-going England tour. Kumble believes that the Anti-Corruption Unit will take the required steps to ensure such shameful acts do not ruin the repute of the game.
Kumble said, “I don't think we need to be worried about these things but we can't close our eyes. ACSU is there to deal with it”.
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