IPL 2021 Auction: What All Changes After Kings XI Punjab Rebrands Itself As Punjab Kings?

Kings XI Punjab’s co-owner Mohit Burman announced that the team’s name will be changed to ‘Punjab Kings’. The step is being taken to “add a fresh look and fresh feel” to the Punjab side. Logo to be unveiled on Wednesday.

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Just a day before the IPL Auction 2021, Kings XI Punjab will change their name and rebrand itself as ‘Punjab Kings’. The new name will come along with a new logo and the announcement will be made on Wednesday. The co-owner of the franchise, Mohit Burman was speaking with ESPNcricinfo when he shared this information.

Burman said, "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 idea for the rebranding of the franchise stems from the fact that the Punjab team has always been inconsistent and every year even after having a talented bunch of players, Punjab fail to finish in the top 4. The last successful season for Punjab came in 2014 when they reached the final for the first and the only time.

Mohit Burman also said that the team has been working on re-branding for over a year and the plans would be laid out after talking to ‘fans’ and ‘closed groups’.  Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Karn Paul are the other co-owners of the franchise. The team still has the strongest purse of 53.9 crore left before going in the Auction 2021. Punjab are expected to buy the most number of players in this Auction. Overall, they still have to fill nine places to reach their full squad strength of 25 players.

Punjab are the third team to change their name in IPL. The first was when Deccan Chargers changed the name to SunRisers Hyderabad in 2013 and the second was when Delhi Daredevils changed the name to Delhi Capitals in 2018.

The new logo and the name will be revealed on Wednesday, just a day before the IPL Auction 2021.