We have a good side, says Kohli

RCB skipper all praise for Bengaluru supporters

The Royal Challengers Bangalore unveiled their new jersey, giving it a complete makeover with the hope that it brings them the luck in their bid to claim a maiden Indian Premier League title.

In a ceremony delayed by two hours with the public relations team having very little clue about the arrangements for the function, members of the RCB team strolled out in the new jerseys and were greeted with huge cheers from the Bold Army — RCB’s official cheer squad.

Designed by Michael Foley, RCB became the first team to unveil home and away kits -- a la football teams. While the home jerseys are predominantly red with shades of black, the away has larger shades of black with red thrown in.

Stars Virat Kohli, Shane Watson and Chris Gayle and domestic top players like KL Rahul, Stuart Binny, Varun Aaron, Sarfaraz Khan, S Aravind and Yuzvendra Chahal were at the launch. AB de Villiers though, was absent.

“This season we have a very good squad,” said Kohli. “The best thing about RCB is their fans. They come out to cheer us so loudly every match. That’s why I love coming back to Bengaluru. I hope we can entertain them well this season.” It was not just the media who were made to wait for close to two hours. Talismanic Gayle, who arrived about 10 minutes early, asked a few press photographers at the lounge on when the event would start.

When they replied they too were waiting for the start and had no idea about the exact launch time, Gayle immediately retreated back to his room before returning later to the stage.

Meanwhile in Hyderabad, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner said he has got a balanced team to work with thi time around.

“Obviously, on the back of what Laxman (team mentor VVS Laxman) said, we have got talent of world potential…. Definitely, we got great balance in the side…,” he said.

Pointing to the presence of stars like Shikhar Dhawan and Ashish Nehra, he said the team has the ammunition in batting and bowling to make matters difficult for its rivals. Sunrisers Hyderabad, which could not make it to the top four last season, signed seasoned players like Yuvraj Singh, Nehra, and promising youngsters including Aditya Tare, Deepak Hooda and Mustafizur Rehman for season nine.

Australian veteran Tom Moody, who has been retained as the coach, said the team relied on the strong character of the players to cope with the different and tough situations the games in the tournament throws up. Observing that the team has got abundant talent this time, Laxman said SRH should make it to the top of the tournament.

“Last year was exciting. Unfortunately, we were not able to make it to the final four. Last two games were little disappointing, because we were positioned number two and we lost to RCB and the Mumbai Indians. Otherwise, we would have ended up in the final four and hopefully go on to win the IPL edition...” he said.