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The Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise director Siddharth Mallya on Monday said how it reflected his side’s character to bounce back after a wretched performance initially in the Indian Premier League, edition IV. He also pointed out how his side was written off initially by critics and commentators.
“After our first win, we unfortunately lost our three next games. The commentary team wrote us off, the journalists wrote us off, the critics wrote us off. They said we had selected a wrong team. Where is (Rahul) Dravid? Where is (Robin) Uthappa? they asked,” he told reporters during a promotional event.
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“To bounce back from there, it shows the character of the team. We have created a new IPL record of winning seven games in a row and were unbeaten in eight consecutive games if we include the one washed away by rain. We are here on our merit. However, we still have a long way to go,” he added.
Siddharth Mallya also lauded Chris Gayle for his contribution to the RCB team after making a comeback into the IPL.
“For Chris Gayle to have the orange cap is phenomenal. He has scored over 500 runs in some 11 (actually nine) innings. It is not something that we generally hear in our lifetime,” he said.
Mallya explained how an IPL without Lalit Modi is like a “sugarfree candyfloss” and how the IPL is not the same without Modi.
“Lalit Modi had a vision. He was a visionary. None of this would have been possible without his vision. IPL 4 without Modi is like a sugarless candyfloss. It looks the same, tastes the same but you know something is missing.
“It is not that much has changed. But yes we miss him,” he said.
Mallya also assured that the IPL will prevail inspite of the fact that the IPL ratings has hit a low this time.
“After the World Cup, there was a fear that people would be sick of cricket. I don’t see that to be a big issue. Personally, in Bangalore, most of the matches have been sold out. The World Cup win has been a big help.
“The official ratings have been low but we have to take the World Cup into account as well,” said Mallya.
