RCB Name Change: Royal Challengers Bangalore Now Officially Rechristened As Royal Challengers Bengaluru

RCB name change: Royal Challengers Bangalore was on Tuesday (March 19) officially renamed Royal Challengers Bengaluru during the RCB Unbox 2024 event at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

The home fans have always wanted the team to be called Royal Challengers 'Bengaluru' since the city was officially renamed from Bangalore to Bengaluru in 2014, and ever since the IPL inception. Now, that has become a reality.

The franchise had teased about a name change from the start of the month with video clips featuring big names from the Kannada cine industry through their official social media channels.

Shiva Rajkumar, Kiccha Sudeep, Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar, Rishabh Shetty, Rashmika Mandhana and Danish Sait all using a common line of "artha aytha" meaning "did you understand?" after moving out the object or the word Bangalore in the clips.

And on Tuesday (March 19), it was made a reality as star batter Virat Kohli, who shared the stage with the men's captain Faf Du Plessis and women's captain Smrit Mandhana, said "Idhu RCBag Hosa Adhyaya", meaning "This is a new era of RCB".

The trio then pressed the buzzer, which triggered an alarm and the lights went off, and as the lights came on, the new jersey and the new logo with the word "Bengaluru" etched on it were revealed.

Once the kit and the logo was released, Du Plessis presented DJ Alan Walker with a customised RCB jersey, while Smriti presented one to Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar as well. Later, the whole RCB squad was welcomed on the stage to end the event with a 2024 squad photo.

Earlier, the Royal Challengers, who had inducted Chris Gayle and AB De Villiers into the Hall of Fame last year, added another legend to the list with the induction of former Karnataka and India pacer R Vinay Kumar into RCB Class of 2024 Hall of Fame.

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru squad will soon jet out for the IPL 2024 opener in Chennai where they will face defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday (March 22).