'Ee Sala Cup Namde' - RCB fans chant god's name in a procession, pray for their maiden IPL title

The Royal Challengers Bangalore may not have won any IPL title in 12 years of the Indian Premier League, but that doesn’t mean their fans are less enthusiastic about their chances whenever a new season is about to begin. The same case is with this year as well, given the hype around the franchise after some encouraging buys in the auction in December 2019.

The RCB team also unveiled a new logo this season and also bought new players like Aaron Finch, Isuru Udana, Kane Richardson, Dale Steyn, Chris Morris, Joshua Phillippe amongst others. The franchise has ended on the bottom of the points table two times in the last three seasons and their fans have always hoped for them to reproduce their performance from 2016 edition when they were dominant like never before and have been never after.

The fans are going to new lengths to ensure that their team wins the tournament this season. One of the fans threw a banana writing ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde’ in Male Mahadeshwara hills temple in Chamarajanagar (practice to fulfil one’s desire or wish).

Another fan broke a coconut with an RCB flag tied to his hand. The fan was seen saying in a video, which went viral that “I am not praying for a job or a girlfriend. I only want RCB to lift the IPL cup this year, kindly bless the team.”

RCB ended up as runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016

Something similar was seen when a fan shared a video of RCB fans taking out a procession of a god and chanting his name, possibly in order to please him to bless the Virat Kohli-led team this season, so that they can win their maiden title, after ending up as runner-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016. They lost to Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively in those year’s final.

Here is the video of the procession:

This year’s IPL is crucial for all the participants given that the ICC T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played later this year in Australia and for RCB and its players, it is a chance for them to impress respective boards of their abilities. AB de Villiers, who is vying for a place in the South African team once more, after retiring from the game in May 2018, would want to have a bumper season in IPL 2020, to impress head coach Mark Boucher and Director Graeme Smith and make his comeback.