RCB Unbox Event 2024 Highlights: RCB now Royal Challengers Bengaluru; new jersey colours revealed

RCB Unbox Event 2024 Live:

RCB Unbox Event 2024 Highlights: It is official. RCB are now Royal Challengers Bengaluru and their primary colours have changed from black, red and gold to blue, red and gold. The third edition saw the women's team led by Smriti Mandhana being celebrated after they won the WPL on Sunday. Mandhana led her teammates out to a guard of honour from the men's team and support staff and then parraded the WPL trophy around the ground. After that came performances from Raghu Dixit and Norwegian DJ Allan Walker, with the latter revealing the team's song for the season. Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Mandhana then revealed the new colours along with the new name.

The Chinnaswamy Stadium is decked up, preparations got underway last evening with the ground wearing the kind of look expected from a WWE PPV event. A special stage has been set up, accompanied by a massive Kohli poster. And why not, Bengaluru fans went berserk at the sighting of their beloved 'King Kohli' and trust them to turn up in numbers to get a look at their icon up close and personal.

Plenty of stuff is lined up for today's event. There are some celebrity performances queued up, along with some snippets from players. Du Plessis is expected to address the crowd, and you never know, there may be a bit of Kohli in there as well. The top bosses will be attendance too, including CCO Prathmesh Mishra, and the occasions will mark the return of Universe Boss Chris Gayle too.

RCB have already started training at their homeground M Chinnaswamy Stadium as Kohli, who joined the camp a bit late on Sunday, took part in one of the sessions Monday with skipper Du Plessis also making his presence felt. The senior duo chatted with each other on the field as Kohli actively took part in the training on his return to the field. He took rounds of the ground and participated in the football session followed by the catching drills to get warmed up.

What to expect from RCB in IPL 2024

RCB will begin their quest to win their maiden IPL trophy, with the opening clash of the season against Chennai Super Kings on March 22. The season opener will be played at Chepauk Stadium, where two of the biggest superstars of Indian cricket MS Dhoni and Kohli will be up against each other. There promises to be added pressure on RCB this year after their women's team won the Women's Premier League title in just their second attempt. RCB have come close thrice to winning the IPL title but suffered defeat in the finals of 2009, 2011 and 2016.

Kohli, the premier India batter, has been associated with the franchise since the inception of the tournament but has failed to guide them to a title. The 35-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers in the league but the lack of collective effort on the field has put the team down on several occasions.

IPL 2024 promises to be another season where RCB will rely on Kohli to provide solidity to their batting attack. The star batter was in terrific form last season but he has not played much cricket in recent times this year. He last played for India in January in the T20I series against Afghanistan and after that, he took a break from England Tests due to personal reasons. The 2024 edition will be crucial for him to cement his place in India's T20 WC squad.

Du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell are the other two stars who will be crucial for RCB in the batting department on a relatively small boundary home ground M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The franchise needs their batters to go all guns blazing in the home matches as the pitch in Bengaluru doesn't offer much for the bowlers and the small boundary size makes the case even worse for them. The inclusion of Cameron Green will boost their chances for the title bid as the Aussie star will add value to both batting and bowling. He had a decent debut season at Mumbai Indians last season but they decided to trade him to accommodate space for the return of Hardik Pandya.

The bowling department remains an area of concern for RCB as apart from Mohammed Siraj they don't have a proven bowling attack. Lockie Ferguson and Alzarri Joseph have decent experience in IPL but they still have not been able to make a big mark. Meanwhile, Indian pacers like Yash Dayal and Akash Deep also have performed well in patches and lack consistency in the T20 format. After releasing Wanindu Hasaranga, RCB also failed to sign an ideal replacement in the spin department and will rely on Karn Sharma and the other rookie options to get the job done.