The IPL 2024 is mere days away and already the anticipation of a major change is coming.
RCB, which is named as Royal Challengers Bangalore, may move out the Bangalore and put Bengaluru from this season onwards.
There have been fan disgruntlement over the franchise’s name over the years as the RCB fans have voiced their opinion to change it to ‘Bengaluru’ from ‘Bangalore’, which is the correct Kannada pronunciation of the city.
And the franchise released a video on Wednesday, which kind of hints that a name change is possibly on the way. But if the shift in the name takes place, this is not the first time that would happen in the IPL.
In its 17-year history, we have seen teams changing their names multiple times. Here is a glance back at the name changes in IPL over the years.
Deccan Chargers to Sunrisers Hyderabad
Deccan Chargers were the first team that was renamed in the IPL, but it was due to c change in ownership. On 14 September 2012, the IPL governing council terminated the Deccan Chargers franchise for breaching contract terms. The Sun TV Network became the new owner of the Hyderabad franchise in October of that year. The new team was named as Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Delhi Daredevils to Delhi Capitals
Delhi Daredevils was the name of the franchise since its inception. But in 2018, it was changed to Delhi Capitals. Their owner Parth Jindal said that Delhi was the power and capital of the country, hence was the change of name. But so far, we haven’t really witnessed the new name galvanizing the franchise.
Kings XI Punjab to Punjab Kings
Kings XI Punjab, another franchise changed their name in 2021. The Punjab-based team wanted to rebrand themselves and changed it to Punjab Kings three years ago. Incidentally, they are another team who haven’t won an IPL in their history.
Royal Challengers Bangalore to Royal Challengers Bengaluru
As we predict, the next change in the IPL name is set to be the Royal Challengers Bengaluru from Royal Challengers Bangalore. Will the name change bring about a stroke of fresh luck and propel them towards their first IPL title? Only time will tell.
Sauradeep Ash Mykhel
source: mykhel.com