In what could well be described as a “googly thrown from left field”, tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India to give the boot to United Spirits Limited, owners of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Indian Premier League, and get them replaced. Why? RCB are languishing at the bottom of the table in IPL 2024, RCB having lost 6 out of 7 matches the team has played so far in the season.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bhupathi states, “For the sake of the sport , the IPL, the fans and even the players, I think BCCI needs to enforce the sale of RCB to a new owner who will care to build a sports franchise the way most of the other teams have done so. #tragic.”
Unless Bhupathi, a sports entrepreneur in his own right after hanging up his boots as it were, is pitching his candidature for the role of “White Knight” to “save” the struggling team, the demand is curious to say the least. Now if such a demand were to have been made by the RCB 12th Man Army – an initiative from fans to bring all the RCB fan clubs, groups, and communities under one body – one could well empathise. But Bhupathi? That is stretching matters into the realm of the ridiculous.
Bhupathi’s tweet follows close on the heels of comments made by former England cricket team captain Michael Vaughan on RCB not being able to fire despite having some great stars in the line-up. “What I like about the fact that RCB have never won is that it proves to me that team sport is not just about individuals. You can go and buy all the biggest individual names and put them into a team but it doesn’t mean you’re going to win and it’s been proven by RCB,” said Vaughan on the Ranveer Show on YouTube.
“They’ve signed some incredible players — AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Faf — unbelievable players. But it tells you that unless you get the whole team operating and every single player knowing the roles and identifying different roles for different people, it might be that you have to rejig your team slightly just to allow someone else to flourish in a different position. I don’t see RCB doing that.”
For the record, RCB have found the going tough in IPL 2024 as they are languishing at the bottom of the table with 2 points and a net run rate of -1.185 after losses in 6 out of 7 games. The team will face Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on March 21. Currently, on a 5-match losing streak, Faf du Plessis’ men need to pull a rabbit out of the hat to get their non-starter campaign going.
