The game of the name

What’s in a name, you ask. Plenty, seems to be the common refrain among the IPL’s franchise owners. In the last couple of days the Mumbai and Kolkata franchises have unveiled their team names, each apparently the product of much thought. On Tuesday, Shah Rukh Khan gave us the Kolkata Knight Riders. Works well for fans of David Hasselhoff – and fans of a certain age growing up in Calcutta in the 1980s, who got the chance to see the serial beamed across on Bangladesh TV. However, the name owes more to the medieval helmet on the team logo, the sort worn by knights of old. Interestingly, Shah Rukh’s own explanation was a bit strange – it was chosen “after thorough research” with the mindset of children in mind. More easily decipherable was the name of team’s mascot, Hoog Lee – neither Bruce Lee nor Brett Lee, as Shah Rukh said, but a terrible pun on the river that flows through the city.

On Saturday the Mumbai Indians were unveiled; the name apparently signifies team effort but not many got that, prompting Kaushik Roy, a top brand executive at Reliance Industries Limited, the franchise owners, to explain the rationale. “The name has been arrived at from the city, Sachin [Tendulkar] the super achiever and our success in Twenty20 cricket. All these elements project vision and a strong stature. Mumbai has a never-say-die attitude. Mumbai Indians is also about having pride in our city. At the end of the day, we wanted an endearing name to which even those abroad can relate.”

There are two unnamed teams - Hyderabad and Mohali - remaining in the IPL. Watch this space for more details.