Bangalore Royal Challengers boss Vijay Mallya has denied media reports that his entire IPL side would be up for sale.

By espnstar.com

Earlier, a TV channel had reported that the Bangalore IPL team would put up all its players for sale in the trading window that commenced on Monday.

However, Mallya issued a statement denying the reports and said he would not take any such step.

"There has been some misinterpretation of a statement issued by my Bangalore office. I wish to clarify that the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team is not for sale and neither do we seek to transfer a majority of our current players."

After the Rahul Dravid led side performed poorly in the first edition of the IPL, Mallya had expressed with his team's performance in the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008 and had indicated that the team will be changed for the next season.

"We have identified three foreign IPL players who will be willing to swap with other IPL teams if possible, to achieve better team balance", the statement said.

"If this does not happen, we will further strengthen the Bangalore IPL team by signing up more Indian youngsters and participating aggressively in the next player auction," the statement went on to add.

The month-long trading window of the IPL for franchises to sell and buy players from other franchises started on Monday.

The first list of players of one franchise available for picking by other franchises would be known by December 28, while the second and third lists would be known on January 5 and 12, 2009 respectively.