Founded: 2008

After launching India on the F1 circuit, Vijay Mallya climbed aboard the cricketing bandwagon by acquiring the franchise for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The team had been expected to be aggressive - that's the way Mallya does business - but the way they performed was a bitter pill to swallow for everyone connected with the Bangalore outfit.

However, the way Bangalore went about their business was not too surprising.

As great a player as Rahul Dravid may be, Twenty20 would never have been his cup of tea.

Leg spinner Anil Kumble was flat and lacked bite and was badly exposed in the shortest form of the game. South African ace Jacques Kallis too came out very bland and struggled to do any justice to the reputation that preceded him.

T20 specialist Cameron White was far from impressive apart from a couple of flashes in the pan.

It was left to Zaheer Khan in the bowling department and Proteas wicketkeeper Mark Boucher in the batting ranks to try and put up some lonely battles but it would never have been enough in a team which was branded a set of Test specialists.

Australian pace ace Nathan Bracken and South African tearaway Dale Steyn along with Zaheer did make up a fairly impressive bowling attack but that would never have been enough as the batsmen kept letting the team down.

Mallya, it seems, was desperate to shed the 'Test' tag that his team had developed by signing Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder and Robin Uthappa.

In fact, Pietersen has been appointed captain for the first six matches that he would be available after Dravid was removed from the post. South African all-rounder Jaques Kallis will then take over after KP joins England to host the West Indies for a Test series.

Coach: Ray Jennings

Captain: Kevin Pietersen

Colours: Red & Golden Yellow

Home Ground: M Chinnaswamy Stadium

Capacity: 40,000

Owner: UB Group

Official Website: http://www.royalchallengers.com/