The rush may be on to get hold of the biggest stars available on the auction window, especially given the fact that the issue involving conflict of interests with Cricket Australia (CA) having been resolved. However, the IPL Bangalore team, unlike a few others, seems to be more interested in retaining players and coaches from their own city first before turning their eyes on the outsiders.IPL Bangalore’s primary interest at the moment is to make sure that Team India Test captain Anil Kumble—who also happens to be on the auction window—remains with them and, if possible, India’s bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad gets the opportunity to take up the coaching job of their IPL Twenty20 team.“(Anil) Kumble is a highly experienced cricketer, and one of Bangalore’s most famous faces. He is also the world’s third highest wicket-taker ever which adds to his fan-base. Therefore, there is no doubt that we’d like to go for him once the auction begins,” says the team’s CEO-designate Charu Sharma. While IPL Bangalore insist that considering Kumble’s career-statistics, there’ll be quite a rush on the part of franchises trying to bid for him, IPL Bangalore will try their best to retain the leg-spinner in their ranks. In fact, the 37-year-old could end up becoming the captain of the Bangalore team and given the respect he’s earned during the recent Sydney fiasco, also the flag-bearer of UB Group’s venture into the game.
