New Zealand`s Daniel Vettori was on Tuesday named captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, starting April 8 in Chennai.

Vettori, who led New Zealand to a record sixth semi-final apperance in the just-concluded World Cup, will replace spin legend Anil Kumble who captained the team in the last two seasons of the Twenty20 league.

Kumble will also be a part of the Bangalore franchise as a chief mentor.

"We are very excited for the upcoming season. Vettori is a highly experienced and respected leader and we hope to ride to the pinnacle of success this IPL under his leadership," RCB chairman Vijay Mallya said in a statement.

Director of Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd, Sidhartha Mallya added, "It is wonderful that we have somebody of his (Vettori) stature to lead our team this year. He is the ideal person to fill Anil`s shoes."

Vettori represented Delhi Daredevils in the first three editions of IPL and his predecessor Kumble hailed the left-arm spinner`s appointment to the leadership position.

"Vettori is a hugely respected professional not only within his team but amongst his international peers as well. His unique ability to get players to perform as a unit and deliver more than just the sum of their parts, as he has done time and again with New Zealand, will be a big asset to any team," said the former India skipper.

RCB coach Ray Jennings was of the view that Vettori`s experience and skill on the spin-fiendly Indian pitches will be of great help for the team in the upcoming tournament.

"Vettori is also probably the best spinner in the world at the moment and brings in tremendous skills that will be extremely useful on the Indian pitches," Jennings insisted.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Team: Daniel Vettori (captain), Virat Kohli, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB De Villiers (wicket-keeper), Zaheer Khan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Dirk Nannes, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Charl Langeveldt, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, CM Gautam (wicket-keeper), S Arvind, Mayank Agarwal, Arun Karthick, Asad Khan Pathan, Abrar Kazi, Ryan Ninan, Bhareth Narayanan, Nuwan Pradeep.

PTI

Royal Challengers Bangalore