Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, RCB, officially rechristened itself as Royal Challengers Bengaluru during a glitzy ceremony held in front of a packed Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday (Mar 19). 

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The highly anticipated RCB Unbox event celebrated the franchise’s history as well as recent successes with an attempt to reinvigorate the brand with a new name and a brand new jersey. 

The event kickstarted with the RCB men’s team giving a guard of honour to newly crowned Women’s Premier League (WPL) champions – Smriti Mandhana’s RCB-Women team.

Afterwards, former captain Virat Kohli, alongside current skipper Faf du Plessis and Mandhana unveiled the new jersey and name. 

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Notably, the state government of Karnataka in 2014 changed the name of the city to Bengaluru from Bangalore. Since then, there had been demands that the franchise management change the name but the team stuck with the name adopted in 2008, during the inaugural edition. 

The likes of Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings have also changed their names in the recent past. 

RCB fans elated

The fans of the IPL franchise celebrated the name change and thanked the club for finally listening to their demands. Some hoped that the name change would bring the first IPL silverware for the men’s team.  

“Thank you RCB management for finally listening to fans. We needed this,” said one fan, while another commented: “Finally after so many years, they have made the decision to change Bangalore to BENGALURU. Thank you!” 

A third added: “Hopefully, the name change brings luck and RCB win their first IPL trophy.” 

Despite being hugely popular among cricket fans, RCB is yet to win the coveted IPL trophy. The previous 16 seasons have seen the team come perilously close to the title on three separate occasions but falling at the final hurdle.

The last time RCB qualified for the final was in 2016 when Sunrisers Hyderabad stopped Virat Kohli and co. from winning the maiden title.  

RCB will start their 2024 campaign on the opening day of the tournament by squaring up against defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on March 22. 

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