Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) unveiled on Friday an all new black and red jersey with two designs for home and away matches.
“We are the first IPL team to have home and away jerseys,” said RCB chairman and its owner United Spirits Ltd’s chief marketing officer Amrit Thomas.
Divided into two groups, the RCB players led by captain Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle showcased the two jerseys.
Some of the other team members who donned the jerseys included Shane Watson, K.L. Arun, Stuart Binny, Varun Aaron, Sarfaraz Khan, S. Aravind and Yuzvendra Chahal. Explosive batsman Abraham De Villiers was absent from the event.
Talking about the team, captain Kohli said, “This time we have a better team. And Bengaluru has always had the best fan base. That’s why I love coming back to the city.”
Recalling the just concluded World Twenty20 tournament, Kohli engaged in some banter with Gayle.
“We hate you for having beaten us. But after that we were all rooting for the West Indies anyway,” he told Gayle.
The jerseys have been designed by Michael Foley and manufactured by Bengaluru-based company Zeven; they are made of Atmocool fabric.
RCB selected a group of fans as The Bold Army after a selection process to be the official cheer squad.
The Bengaluru team also unveiled its team anthem, RCB PlayBold Anthem, composed by Salim Merchant while the whole event was live streamed on the team’s official Facebook page.
Interestingly, nobody spoke a word about RCB creator Vijay Mallya and the event completely lacked the page three glamour and celebrities.
