Vijay Mallya's presence at charity ball makes Team India squirm

LONDON: Vijay Mallya, it seems, is everywhere around Team India in England. A day after being spotted at the India-Pakistan game in Birmingham, Mallya again turned up in an identical white suit at Virat Kohli's charity ball at the Honourable Artillery Company grounds in London.
Sources told TOI that his presence made the Indian team uncomfortable enough to leave a bit early. There was minimal interaction with the fugitive businessman, the former owner of the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team, who fled India in March 2016 after defaulting on bank loans with the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.He is currently out on bail.
The charity dinner, organized on Monday night to raise funds to better tackle human trafficking, was hosted by commentator Alan Wilkins, who first called up Virat Kohli, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar for a chat before inviting Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh for a 'town-hall' style interaction.
Mallya was spotted arriving at the ball in a Rolls Royce, and sources close to the team indicated Virat Kohli and Co had no idea he had bought a table, or was among the invitees.
"His presence creates a very uncomfortable situation for the cricketers," said a source. "They cannot ask him to leave or turn their back on him if he wants to have a conversation. The real possibility of any interaction emerged only after the function when dinner was announced, and the team had to leave soon after."
The Indian team arrived at the venue at around eight in the evening and wanted to leave by 8.30 pm but were held up as the team bus got delayed due to evening traffic in central London. It was then that Mallya walked in. Some Indian players who were having their dinner were told to leave by the team management.
Mallya had earlier caused a media sensation in Birmingham by attending the India-Pakistan game, and then tweeted: "I intend to attend all games to cheer the Indian team".

His continued presence at such events is likely to be perceived as a nose-thumping gesture towards Indian authorities, who have filed an extradition request following revelations of alleged unpaid debts worth Rs 9000 crore.
In fact, in a similar case a year ago, the then high commissioner of India, Navtej Sarna, walked out of a book launch event at the London School of Economics when he saw Mallya in the gathering.