S goes, focus shifts to T-eam
The Pune franchise has dropped the ‘s’ from the Supergiants. As it gears up for its final season in the IPL, the Sanjeev Goenka-owned side will now be known as Rising Pune Supergiant.
Published : Mar 23, 2017 22:01 IST
For the last couple of days, the cricketing fraternity has been a bit confused every time there is a discussion about Rising Pune Supergiants. With the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) releases and the Indian Premier League (IPL) website referring to the Pune outfit as the Rising Pune Supergiant, many wondered if the side had secretly changed its name.
Well, it’s official— the Pune franchise has indeed dropped the ‘s’ from the Supergiants. As it gears up for its final season in the IPL, the Sanjeev Goenka-owned side will now be known as Rising Pune Supergiant.
What’s in a name? A lot it seems!
While there are rumours that numerology had a role to play in the name change, the franchise officials refused to comment on the issue. But Sportstar has reliably learnt that team’s poor show last season did prompt a rethink on the name. “The name change was on the cards after last season’s performance,” the source said.
However, other team sources claim that there is no superstition behind the name change. “Before every season, we have a meeting with the creative team, and there it was decided that it is better to project the whole team rather than focusing on a few players. That is the reason behind changing the name,” another source said.
A day before the IPL auction, the Pune franchise had removed former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its skipper and appointed Australian Steven Smith as the new leader of the side.
And now, a sudden name change indicates that the franchise is going in for an overhaul in team’s structure and brand image. “Last season, the focus was solely on the five core players, but that strategy didn’t work out. With the team not doing well and matches shifted from Pune, the stakes were hugely affected. This time, the focus is to improve the business propositions as well,” a well-placed source said.
Despite having Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane and Smith in their ranks, last season wasn’t the one to remember for the Pune outfit. But with a lot of changes happening this time around, the franchise looks to make it big.
This is how the new logo looks: