Vijay Mallya, owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) announced at a press conference yesterday that there would be a change in the leadership of his IPL team. “Kevin Pietersen will lead Royal Challengers in the IPL and it was a decision that we took after a lot of discussions and when he leaves to fulfill his England commitments, Jacques Kallis will lead the team,” said Mallya.

Mallya said that Dravid, who led the team last year, had indicated personal issues with leading the team this year. “We were in consultation with Dravid and he had personal issues. He and his wife are expecting their (second) child and no one knows when a baby is born and Rahul hinted at his likely unavailability. Hence there was also the need for Kallis to step in as Pietersen’s replacement in the second half of the Indian Premier League season,” clarified Mallya in the cricket news.

Mallya expressed his confidence in his new look team which has recently been reinforced with the inclusion of Kevin Pietersen, and other batsmen such as Jesse Ryder and Robin Uthappa. “I believe we are championship contenders and I hope to get the cup to Bangalore,” Mallya said. There were indications even earlier that Dravid may not be captain of the RCB this year which finished second last, in the inaugural Indian Premier League event and was dubbed the IPL’s ‘Test Team’ because of its composition.

"We were not balanced last year and had a weak batting line-up," said Mallya. "We have Pietersen, who some reporters have referred to as the 'world's finest batsman', and Jesse Ryder, who is doing well. We have a quality bowling line-up with the likes of Dale Steyn and Nathan Bracken. We are no longer a Test team but one qualified for Twenty20 cricket."

"We had six international captains to choose from," Mallya said. "The decision on captaincy was taken keeping in mind three considerations: player's availability, flexibility in the squad selection during the phases and the fact that Dravid may not be available for the entire tournament."

Pietersen’s reaction to the change was also reported it the cricket news; “It is indeed a great privilege and honour to be asked to take over the captaincy from such a great player and friend Rahul Dravid. I am looking forward to his support and to working closely with him in mounting a successful Royal Challengers challenge,” said Pietersen.

Players are not the only change the team will be seeing this year. Reportedly, Grant Morgan and Eric Simons will join the team as batting and bowling coaches respectively making this the new look, improved RCB team.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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