Kings XI Punjab to be renamed Punjab Kings
Information
The concept behind the change is to “add a fresh look and fresh feel,” co-owner says
The Kings XI Punjab will now be known as Punjab Kings. The concept behind the change is to “add a fresh look and fresh feel,” Mohit Burman, one of many co-owners of the franchise, mentioned.
In line with Burman, the franchise, which additionally has Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Karn Paul as the opposite house owners, may also unveil a brand new emblem on Wednesday as a part of its rebranding technique. Burman, who’s vice-chairman at Dabur India Pvt. Ltd, mentioned the plan to rename the workforce had been within the works for at the least a 12 months.
Burman mentioned that the franchise determined to alter the title following not simply in-house suggestions but additionally from followers. “We put it to research, both with fans and with closed groups and have finally arrived at the new name,” Burman advised ESPNcricinfo. “The idea behind the new name is to add a fresh look and a fresh feel to the franchise. As with any product/service, everything has its own life cycle and we believe given the changing ethos and the audience taste we thought it was apt for the brand to go through a complete new refresh.”
The franchise has timed the rebranding train within the week of the IPL public sale. In truth, the brand new title and the emblem will likely be unveiled the day earlier than the public sale – a small one this 12 months – the place a complete of 61 slots can be found for the eight franchises to fill their groups up.
The Kings have the strongest purse this public sale at INR 53.9 crore having launched a number of gamers not too long ago together with Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, Okay Gowtham, who have been among the costliest buys on the 2020 public sale. General the Kings have 9 slots to fill to succeed in the utmost squad power of 25, together with 5 abroad gamers.
Instability has been among the many elements which have damage the franchise within the 13 seasons, throughout which they made the playoffs solely twice: in 2008 and 2014.
Final 12 months the franchise spent INR 68.5 crore out of the full purse of 85 crore underneath the brand new workforce administration led by former Indian captain Anil Kumble, who took cost because the workforce director. India wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul was named the brand new captain. Though Rahul was probably the most constant performer final season, Maxwell’s weak type mixed with the shut defeats in three essential matches damage their playoff probabilities as they completed sixth.
The Kings are the second franchise to go for a brand new title. In 2018, the Delhi Daredevils rebranded themselves because the Delhi Capitals after Indian enterprise conglomerate Jindal South-West (JSW) Group purchased a 50% stake within the franchise, which is co-owned by GMR Sports activities Personal Ltd.
KPH Dream Cricket Personal Restricted, the consortium that owns Kings XI, not too long ago additionally bought the Caribbean Premier League workforce St Lucia Zouks a few 12 months in the past.
Nagraj Gollapudi is information editor at ESPNcricinfo
