Bangalore: The Bangalore Royal Challengers team was launched amidst flashing lights and a resurgent party spirit at the Taj West End Hotel lawns here

Bangalore: The Bangalore Royal Challengers team was launched amidst flashing lights and a resurgent party spirit at the Taj West End Hotel lawns here on Wednesday night.

Mr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman, UB Group, who owns the Bangalore franchise, said: “We have a solid, dependable and high-performance team which can play well under pressure. I am confident my team will win.”

The team colours, a mix of red with a yellow tinge, was also unveiled.

Prior to the launch, the team’s newly-appointed Chief Cricket Officer Martin Crowe emphatically said: “We want to be the inaugural winners of the Indian Premier League. Our team, hand picked by Rahul (Dravid) and Vijay Mallya, has people with integrity, humility and we have also balanced it with youth. Our bowling is good and we look to play intelligent cricket. Twenty20 is not just thrash and bash,” the former New Zealand skipper said.

Meanwhile, skipper Dravid emphasised that the IPL’s success will depend on the quality of cricket on display. “It is a new concept and whether we succeed will be known in time. It also brings international players in to a domestic tournament and it will be interesting to see how the fans react to the city concept. I hope we get good crowd support as that would be a motivating factor for the players. And if the cricket is good, the crowds will come back,” Dravid said.

About his team, Dravid said: “Excited to share a dressing room with players like Jacques Kallis and Nathan Bracken. We wanted people who believe in the concept of a team and we interacted with some of the players we picked and they are all excited.”

Meanwhile Venkatesh Prasad, the team’s coach, said that though the team has players more famous for their skills in the Test arena, he was confident about their success. “Our key players have plenty of experience and can adapt to different forms of the game,” Prasad said.

For the team’s CEO Charu Sharma, the team’s priorities were based on “solid plans.” “We surely aren’t here on a wing and a prayer. Martin and Prasad have solid plans for our team,” Sharma said.

The 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.