Mallya preferred England option

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The Twenty20 competition was moved out of India because of a clash of dates with general elections and while England were in the running to host the event, the IPL organisers eventually sealed a deal with South Africa.

"To be honest, I would have preferred England to South Africa," Mallya said.

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said the weather had been the principle factor in choosing South Africa as the venue. But while Mallya agreed there was a huge possibility of rain disruptions, he believed the tournament would have drawn bigger crowds in England.

Mallya added: "You could have taken just one flight from five or six cities in India to England and it would have been cheaper.

"Besides, an average Englishman loves his cricket and the stands there would have been full of spectators.

"But, I guess the weather conditions clinched the issue for South Africa.

"In England, there were chances that matches would have been rained off and teams sharing points affects the competitiveness of the event," he said.

The Bangalore Royal Challengers have five South African players in their squad - Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Dillon Du Preez and Roelof van der Merwe - and Mallya is hoping that would prove an advantage.

"With the way things have turned out and with five South African players in the side, I'm sure we there is some sort of home advantage that we can look forward to," he said.