Ray Jennings, the Royal Challengers Bangalore coach, is pleased with the progress of the Indian players in his squad ahead of the 2010 season, after the conscious effort made to build local talent within the unit.

"If you look at it, we have pulled back Manish Pandey from the Mumbai Indians. He is becoming a star here,” Jennings told Deccan Herald. "Vinay Kumar and [Abhimanyu] Mithun have made rapid strides and we have also pulled back Robin Uthappa from Mumbai. Unfortunately, he is struggling a bit at the moment, but I am sure he will pull it back. We're making sure that the local players are very important.”

Pandey and Uthappa played for Mumbai in the first season of the IPL before coming to Bangalore. Pandey made headlines with a century in IPL 2009, the only hundred by an Indian batsman in the competition, and has since risen to prominence in domestic cricket. Mithun recently made his ODI debut for India, while Vinay Kumar has been included among the 30 probables for the World Twenty20, vindi-cating Jennings' faith in him.

"When I came here a year ago, Vinay was very nervous after playing in the first IPL," Jennings said. "I guess he enjoyed me and my work ethics. Honesdy, I believed he can play for India and that was a year ago. But, between now and then, he has matured a lot. I hope he will go

on and play for India.

"This IPL, I hope, will put his game at a new level. IPL is like a tram, if you are world-class it can transport you to the next level. Players like Mithun, Manish and Vinay have grown a large percentage in the last edition of the IPL. The Indian portion of our side has got a lot better and has produced a lot of goods for us."

Jennings also gave insight into Bangalore's future, tipping Virat Kohli as a strong contender for the captaincy after Anil Kumble finishes his career. "Virat Kohli showed a lot of maturity in recent months and became a part of the Indian set up. For me, he is very much our future captain. How long Kumble is going to be around? I think Kohli can take over from him," he said. "I have no doubt in mind that he can be India's captain in two-three years. I have watched him for a while now and he has been maturing and understands his game better."

Jennings outlined the role of Bangalore's most expensive player, Kevin Pietersen, for whose services the franchise paid $1.55 million last year. "From our point of view, if Kevin can dominate the bowling from 6-15 overs then he has done his job. Obviously, the captaincy role has been taken away from him but his dominating presence on the field, and the way he scores his runs, I am sure he will have a big impact for us in matches and outside."

Pietersen led Bangalore for the initial part of the 2009 tournament before he had to leave for international commitments, handing over the captaincy to Anil Kumble. The side's fortunes changed dramatically after the switch and they recovered from a streak of four successive defeats in the first five games to reach the finals.