Royal Challengers Bangalore remove picture and name from social media accounts, leave cricketers, fans surprised

IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday (February 12) removed its profile pictures from its official Twitter handle and deleted all the posts from the team’s official Instagram account.

The fans of Bengaluru-based Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), which is led by Indian skipper Virat Kohli, were left surprised on Wednesday (February 12) after the franchise deleted the profile picture of RCB on its official social media pages. The franchise removed its profile pictures from its official Twitter handle and deleted all the posts from the team’s official Instagram account.

Sources claimed that the RCB have gone cold on social media because they have decided to change their name from the upcoming 13th edition of the IPL, scheduled to begin on March 29.  It is widely expected that the word ‘Bangalore’ will be replaced by ‘Bengaluru’, but the franchise owners are still to make any official comment in this regard.

Notably, the profile name on Twitter and Instagram accounts of RCB has been changed to Royal Challengers and there is no mention of ‘Bangalore’ anymore. Sources said that the process of changing the name would be completed soon.

The development left RCB cricketers also in a tizzy, including leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and batsman AB de Villiers.

“Arey @rcbtweets, what googly is this? Where did your profile pic and Instagram posts go?” Chahal wrote on Twitter.

Arey @rcbtweets, what googly is this? Where did your profile pic and Instagram posts go? — Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) February 12, 2020

"Folks at @rcbtweets, what's happened to our social media accounts? Hope it's just a strategy break," tweeted A.B. de Villiers.

Folks at @rcbtweets, what’s happened to our social media accounts? Hope it’s just a strategy break. — AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) February 12, 2020

It is speculated that many RCB fans were unhappy with ‘Bangalore’ in the franchise name and they wanted the franchise to replace 'Bangalore' with ‘Bengaluru’.