‘I knew the balance of the team was good to win the trophy’ – Vijay Mallya on RCB’s success

'I knew the balance of the team was good to win the trophy' – Vijay Mallya on RCB's success

Vijay Mallya, the founder of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2008, now based in the UK amid Indian authorities seeking his extradition, speaks to Cricbuzz about the team's historic victory, the celebrations that turned tragic, and his prospects of returning to India.

The victory celebrations ended in tragic deaths of fans…

It is very sad that those who came out to celebrate ultimately did not go home. It is heartbreaking that people who came for such a joyous occasion met with tragedy. I have extended my heartfelt condolences to all the affected families. I was amazed watching it on television – the number of people was just unimaginable. I'm not going to comment on why this sad incident happened because I don't know enough. It would be unfair for me to make any comment. But the fact that people lost their lives is a very, very sad thing, especially when the whole of Bangalore and all the fans were celebrating. I can't say much more.

You must have watched the final, right?

Of course, I watched the final. I have watched every single RCB game.

You know, the way RCB has played this season has been extraordinary. Particularly, to win every single away game was quite an achievement, and I think it's an IPL record as well. Every time RCB played at Chinnaswamy, I was nervous because, you know, at Chinnaswamy, you either have extraordinary bowling that contains runs, or else you need to be prepared for very high-scoring games.

So, it was fine. I mean, the fact that they had such a fantastic away record – I knew that this time the balance of the team was good. Every player was stepping up, and as a unit, they were performing very well.

So, it was not a surprise that they got to the finals. Of course, there are so many other factors in a final game – such a big game – such as experience, such as, you know, mental strength and everything else. RCB showed that it had a good balance of young players as well as experienced players, and everybody, as I said, stepped up to the plate.

Punjab played brilliant cricket as well to reach where they did – into the final – but Punjab has a whole bunch of youngsters who did remarkably well for them, and I think in the final game, it was RCB's blend of experience and talent that saw them through.

So, post the victory, did you celebrate?

Of course. I had a whole bunch of friends who were with me, who all came to watch the game, and obviously, we all celebrated. I mean, when I founded this team, I bought the Bangalore franchise at the BCCI auction and named it Royal Challengers. You know, the dream was that the trophy should be in Bangalore. I didn't realize then that it would take 18 years for the trophy to arrive in Bangalore. Finally, it is in Bangalore.