Cricket can make the most successful of people do strange things to help their team win. Prayers are offered at home, temples, mosques and other places of worship; players will wear dress of specific colours for good luck; they will not move from their positions in tight situations, some keep
standing for the entire match.
Superstition has been a part of sports and Indian Premier League is no different. The management of Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers are
known to follow Vaasthu Shastra to invoke positive energy in their outfit. The latest to be hit by the bug are Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Prayers and pundits are against the basic grain of the 'Kings of Good Times' but if sources in their team management are to be believed, the Mallyas are okay with trying a bit of superstition if it helps their team win. Especially, the junior Mallya, Sidhartha.
During the RCB matches, the scion of the Mallya clan was a regular at the owners' special enclosure at the ground. But after a couple of defeats he was convinced it was proving to be unlucky for his team and decided to watch the action with his supporters from the hospitality boxes.
As a result, Brijesh Patel, senior member of the RCB management, has generally been seen seated alone on the big sofa outside the boundary line.
"He (Sidhartha) has become superstitious after the defeat against Deccan Chargers (at Hyderabad, their third game) and believes sitting on the sofa is unlucky," said an RCB team official.
RCB had a disastrous start to their campaign, losing three in a row from game 2 to 5, before Chris Gayle came and turned things around.
In the final on Saturday, the RCB owners were conspicuous by their absence from the sofa, preferring the hospitality area. Vijay Mallya, in fact, has not been comfortable sitting at the ground level and has preferred the hospitality boxes.
Like father, like son!