Royal Challengers still have a long way to go, says Siddharth Mallya

Royal Challengers Bangalore franchisee director Siddharth Mallya on Monday lauded his team for bouncing back and topping the group after being written off in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“We have created a new IPL record of winning seven games in a row and were unbeaten in eight consecutive games if we include the one washed away by rain. We are here on our merit. However, we still have a long way to go,” he said here during a promotional event.

“After our first win, we unfortunately lost our three next games. The commentary team wrote us off, the journalists wrote us off, the critics wrote us off. They said we had selected a wrong team. Where is (Rahul) Dravid? Where is (Robin) Uthappa? they asked,” he added.

“To bounce back from there, it shows the character of the team.”

Siddharth was all praise for orange cap holder Chris Gayle, who played a crucial role in Royal Challengers turn of fortune. The Jamaican scored 511 runs in nine innings.

“For Chris Gayle to have the orange cap is phenomenal. He has scored over 500 runs in some 11 (actually nine) innings. It is not something that we generally hear in our lifetime,” he said.

Mallya said IPL without Lalit Modi was like a “sugarfree candyfloss.”

“Lalit Modi had a vision. He was a visionary. None of this would have been possible without his vision. IPL 4 without Modi is like a sugarless candyfloss. It looks the same, tastes the same but you know something is missing. It is not that much has changed. But yes we miss him,” he said.