Little Tia's moment of 'revenge'!

Off the pitch

Eleven-year-old Tia Bhatia, who shot to fame under unusual circumstances little less than a month ago, enjoyed her day out with the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday as their special guest.

During RCB’s match against Pune Warriors on April 18, Chris Gayle had unleashed his might with eight sixes and one of them crashed onto Tia’s nose, causing a nasal fracture.

While visiting her at the hospital, the West Indian had given the medal he won for hitting most sixes in that match, and he had also promised to help her spend time with the team during one of their matches at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.

As promised, Tia, sporting a green jersey, was present during the toss during their match against Mumbai Indians, flanked by stand-in skipper Virat Kohli, and his counterpart Harbhajan Singh. She also spent some time with Gayle during the course of the match after the Jamaican lost his wicket early in the innings.

Tia had a chance to take ‘revenge’ on Gayle as the West Indian allowed the little girl to gently dab his nose with a ball.

Going Green the RCB way

Royal Challengers Bangalore tied up with the London Olympics to further their commitment to the ‘Go Green’ initiative they have been a part of since 2010.

RCB became the first carbon neutral cricket team in the world this year and as a result received a certificate from the audit firm DNV (Det Norske Veritas) on Monday afternoon.

The function was attended by RCB director Sidhartha Mallya, British High Commissioner to India James Bevan, IPL CEO Sundar Raman and RCB mentor and former India skipper Anil Kumble.
In regard to their tie up with the Olympics, credited to be the greenest Games ever held, a symbolic exchange of merchandise took place between Bevan and Mallya junior.

“I congratulate RCB on becoming the first carbon neutral cricket team in the world. I support RCB’s green initiatives, especially this year – as we work towards making London 2012 the greenest Olympics ever,” said Bevan.

A green jersey auction was a part of the green initiative, and that offered the spectators a chance to own an official jersey signed by all team members. The proceeds from the auction will be used to fund a tree-planting drive across Karnataka.

Power failure delays match

As the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians headed towards a thrilling finish at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Monday, one of the four light towers went off at 7.55 pm, much to the ire of players.

In the twelfth over of the match, the lights to the right of the press box stopped functioning, causing stoppage to an already rain-delayed match by a further nine minutes.

“The Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) went off, and that is connected to one of the generators. It takes around eight to ten minutes to get the fifth generator going and hence there was a delay,” said an official from the Karnataka State Cricket Association.