Royal Challengers Bangalore
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Jesse Ryder could be the Shane Watson of this edition © Getty Images
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After the embarrassment of 2008, Vijay Mallya may finally have a team to match his persona. Kevin Pietersen will raise the glamour quotient way above Test level, and fellow new boys Jesse Ryder and Robin Uthappa will beef up the team's T20 skills. And with quite a few South African cricketers in their ranks it will be almost like playing at home. Dale Steyn, who publicly said last season the IPL was like a paid holiday, is sure to rev up his performance. Perhaps the most important South African in their ranks will be the coach - Jennings is known to be a hard taskmaster and will certainly crack the whip.
The buzz
It's all about Ray Jennings, who has fired from the hip right from the start. He warned the "older" players, expressed worries about Rahul Dravid's captaincy, and criticized the seniors. "The team lacked energy, commitment and skills. If you don't enjoy each other's company it must be a long six weeks," Jennings said. "I will point fingers at the senior players. They are the one who must have run that type of the culture in the side."
New faces
Don't look beyond Jesse Ryder. Yes, they have KP but he'll be there only for two weeks. Ryder, in contrast, could be the Shane Watson of this edition. He can win a game in 20 minutes of violent batting, with a spectacular fielding effort or with a spell of his nagging, and surprisingly effective, medium-pace.
Watch out for
Dale Steyn has apologised for his silly comment and can be expected to up his game. He has been in great form in international cricket, leading South Africa recently to memorable victories and he will be playing at home.
Missing in action
Rahul Dravid and KP after two weeks. For all the criticism, Dravid was easily the highest run-getter for Bangalore last year. However, he will be returning home for the birth of his second child. Pietersen will go back to play for England in the home series against West Indies.
X Factor
Bhuvneshwar Kumar. A nippy medium pacer, also known as the man who handed Sachin Tendulkar his first duck in Indian domestic cricket, and a useful lower-order batsman. He is not an explosive talent by any stretch of imagination, but is likely to be a very steady and consistent performer.
Strength
The openers. Bangalore struggled to find a regular pair last year but have Ryder and Robin Uthappa for this edition.
Weakness
The relatively thin Indian talent and the unavailability of Pietersen after two weeks. While Ross Taylor will replace KP the batsman, Kallis is unproven as a leader and has lots to prove as a batsman in this format.
Prediction for 2009
Will do much better than 2008 and will cause a few upsets
IPL 2008 - The key figures
Final position: 7th
Top scorer: Rahul Dravid with 371 runs at 28.53
Top wicket-taker: Steyn with 10 wickets at 25.23 and economy rate of 6.63
Best result: Five-wicket win over Mumbai Indians
Worst result: 140-run loss to Kolkata Knight Riders
Highest team score: 181 v Delhi
Lowest team score: 82 v Kolkata
2008 IPL Season
The team won 4 matches in this season, losing 10 matches and managed to secure only the last but one position in the points table. Only one of their batsman, Rahul Dravid managed to score more than 300 runs in the tournament and they had to even bench their costliest foreign player, Jacques Kallis for few of the matches due to his poor form. The string of failures mid-way through the season led to the sacking of the CEO, Charu Sharma who was replaced with Brijesh Patel.[9] Even coach Venkatesh Prasad was about to be sacked, but he saved his job by publicly apologising for the team's failure. Vijay Mallya went on to publicly criticise Dravid and Sharma for the failures by saying that they had not selected the right team. He regretted that he had made a mistake by not getting involved in the selection of the team. They were the only team in the IPL to try out 11 opening combinations in 14 games. Eventually the chief cricketing officer, Martin Crowe resigned. From 2009 IPL session onwards the team will be coached by former South Africa Coach Ray Jennings and Venkatesh Prasad will assist him as team's Bowling Coach.
