Vijay Mallya, Chairman of UB Group, believes that he has got Kevin Pietersen for reasonable price. "There were some players who went for 12 times their reserve price. Kevin’s reserve price was USD 1.3 million and so USD 1.55 million was a bargain as compared to anybody else."
According to him, Kevin Pietersen would be a contender for captain's job.
Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Vijay Mallya on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: Congratulations on getting Kevin Pietersen but do you think he is the man for you to turn things around this season?
A: I know Kevin personally and a few of our very accomplished Indian cricketers came up and congratulated me. They said that Kevin was perhaps the best batsman in the world. There has been a lot of speculation about the composition of my team last year. I know I have a great bowling attack and we were lacking in the batting department and the addition of Kevin Pietersen is a huge boost for all of us.
Q: Do you think that USD 1.55 million price tag is richly deserved?
A: Let us look at it in the context of auction itself. There were some players who went for 12 times their reserve price. Kevin’s reserve price was USD 1.3 million and so USD 1.55 million was a bargain as compared to anybody else. Even Flintoff who went for the same amount, his reserve price was USD 900,000 and so a lot of team owners decided to build bid way over the reserve price and I think I got Kevin at a very reasonable price.
Q: Did you have to do a toss between Flintoff and Kevin because there was USD 2 million cap? Did you internally take a call that you would go for Kevin rather than Flintoff?
A: To be honest last night I had a meeting with my entire team management and we had identified five players. Number one on the list was Kevin Pietersen. Number two was Jesse Ryder – the explosive New Zealand opener. We already have Ross Taylor his partner in opening the New Zealand innings and we are fortunate we got both.
Q: It is a rich price to pay as well. Do you have any plans of unlocking any value from your team like a couple of other teams – like Rajasthan have done – just to ascribe a value to your team or to just lighten the capital load a bit?
A: The team is obviously increased in value with the addition of these two very fine players but let me be very explicit, during 2008 the Royal Challengers broken even and in fact made a small marginal profit and in 2009 that’s our endeavour, so quite apart from the financial aspect, the branding aspect and branding opportunity, the benefits that accrues to USL are huge. Overall, I am very pleased.
Q: Is there going to be a bit of toss up in who is the captain of the team as well? Are you still going with Rahul Dravid?
A: I’ve been asked question before and I’ve said that the team management will discuss this amongst themselves together with the players and will take a call.
Q: But would you look at Kevin Pietersen as taking on the role of Capitan of this team?
A: He certainly could be a serious contender. Our current Captain Rahul Dravid, I believe his wife is expecting a baby and so I would expect that he needs a bit of time off because the baby is obviously more important. So we will take a call. It is too early for me to comment or indulge in any speculation but the composition of the team is far better and far more potent than last year. We are looking forward to a good season.
Q: A word on Jesse Ryder and why you went for him?
A: We lacked explosive hitting and even though we are delighted that we have Robin Uthappa now, we have Ross Taylor, Kevin Pietersen of course but in the opening pair we wanted someone to compliment Ross Taylor and who better than Jesse Ryder.
Q: Any fructification of your talks with Diageo? Are they on track and by when do you think you can arrive at some kind of conclusion there on the deal talk?
A: Let me repeat once again that talks with Diageo are going very well. There are other interested parties as well. With these transactions, it is impossible to say that what is happening week-to-week. This is a large transaction potentially – it takes time.
Q: But by the end of this quarter will have a conclusion?
A: There is so much I can say and so much I cannot say but suffice to say that things are going well.
Q: By March 31 will we know?
A: I have made a public commitment that I will deleverage USL in six-months time and I stand by my commitment. source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment