Royal Challengers Bangalore has officially changed their name to 'Royal Challengers Bengaluru' ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. At the RCB Unbox event at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the new name of the franchise was unveiled along with their new logo. Skipper Faf Du Plessis, star batter Virat Kohli and women's team captain Smriti Mandhana were present on the stage when the announcement was made. Mandhana led RCB to the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 title after defeating Delhi Capitals in the summit clash - the first ever trophy in the franchise's history.
"The City we love, the Heritage we embrace, and this is the time for our ...PRESENTING TO YOU, ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU, RCB!," the franchise posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Earlier. RCB men's team gave the Smriti Mandhana-led WPL 2024 champions a guard of honour. RCB's men's team comprising of Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik, Karn Sharma gave the women's team a guard of honour.
Smriti walked holding the trophy with the rest of the players as the men's team stars applauded the WPL 2024 champions. The RCB women's team took a victory lap around the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as fans cheered for the title-winning team.
During the victory lap, Smriti was on a video call with star all-rounder Ellyse Perry.
At the end of the victory lap, the team also posed with the trophy. RCB on Sunday lifted the WPL trophy following an all-rounded performance in all facets of the game.
Sophie Molineux and Shreyanka Patil's spin spun the Delhi Capitals batters and restricted them to a total of 113. In reply, RCB comfortably chased down the target and stood victorious.
RCB's men's team will look to replicate the success with a squad that is a mix of talent, youth and experience. Kohli will make his on-field return, after missing the two T20I matches of the three-match series against Afghanistan in January and went on to miss the five-match Test series against England.
RCB IPL 2024 squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan.
(With ANI inputs)