Amidst various concerns, including injuries, absentees, matches being rescheduled, threat of protests Royal Challengers Bangalore began their preparations for the 2013 Indian Premier League at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday. Chief coach Ray Jennings of South Africa with batting coach Mark O’Donell of New Zealand put the Virat Kohli-led handful of players through their paces.
Their matches scheduled to be held here on May 4 and 6, could either be shifted or rescheduled owing to Assembly elections in Karnataka. That decision is to be arrived at in a couple of days, Sumanto Bhattacharya, RCB CEO, told the Express from Mumbai.
The KSCA held a meeting after Bangalore Police Commissioner Jyotiprakash Mirji expressed his inability to provide security to the IPL matches due to elections, the official said. Kings XI Punjab and Hyderabad are scheduled to play their away matches against RCB on the above dates. A change in venue will also have to meet their approvals.
The crowd-pulling explosive dynamite Chris Gayle, who somehow fails to explode when it matters the most, his bludgeoning teammate South African AB de Villiers, former skipper Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, Australians Moises Henriques and Andrew McDonald and West Indian imports Ravi Rampaul and Christopher Barnwell are to join the ranks later.