The Kings XI Punjab, going into the auction of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League, to everyone’s surprise, changed their name and logo, coming out as a new team, called the Punjab Kings. And, explaining this change recently was the co-owner of the team, Ness Wadia.
The Kings XI Punjab, now known as the Punjab Kings, are not the first team to have changed their name. The erstwhile Delhi Daredevils had also changed their name and logo and are now a part of the Indian Premier League, as the Delhi Capitals. Teams like the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the now-defunct, Pune Warriors India, had also tried changing themselves, by altering their jersey’s colour scheme. And, now we have the Punjab Kings joining the fray.
“We had been thinking of a name change for last couple of years,” told the Punjab Kings’ co-owner
There had been a lot of questions and discussions rising on the internet, regarding the changes that were put into effect right before the auction. And, shedding light to the reasons behind this change was, the team’s co-owner himself, Ness Wadia. “We just felt that we wanted to relook at things. We needed to rebrand and reinvent ourselves after so many years. As they say if something doesn’t work, change it and try and get it working,” Wadia said, as reported by the Hindustan Times.
Wadia also went on to add to this by telling that the previous name, Kings XI Punjab had in it, the reference to the playing XI, and this name is ‘more inclusive’ and the fans would relate and click better amongst the fans, and it was not a quick call, the team management had been thinking of the name change for quite some time now.
Wadia told, “Kings XI Punjab had a reference to the playing XI. Punjab Kings is more inclusive and will resonate better with the fans… We had been thinking of a name change for last couple of years. COVID came in 2020 so we put it on hold. We thought if we could do it at the big auction next year or the smaller auction this season, so finally decided to do it this year.”
The tea,m going into the 2021 edition of the IPL would be wanting to have a better result than what they have had in the yesteryears. The team has made some heavy investments in players like Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meridith and Moises Henriques in the hope of changing their fortunes.
