Now that the inaugural season of this league of cricket’s newest and shortest format, the Twenty20, has concluded, it would be a good time to revisit the logos of its participant cricket teams, some of whom display creativity and artistic merit.
Here are the IPL team logos arranged in an alphabetical order:
Bangalore Royal Challengers Logo
The logo of the Bangalore-based cricket franchise is a simple and elegant design consisting of the initials “RC” written in gold color in a classical typeface, and encircled by the team name with the crest of McDowell Royal Challengers, the top-selling liquor brand of Vijay Mallya – the company owner, sitting right at the top.
Chennai Super Kings Logo
The Chennai Super Kings logo features the head of a lion in orange/gold color with the team name typeset in the whitespace available at the side of the lion’s head.
According to its logo designers, the inspiration behind it is the belief that the lion is the king of the jungle. The minimalist approach (thin lines, sharp corners) signifies youth and vibrancy. On the other hand, the heavy lettering signifies a solid performance orientation. The yellow and orange colors signify a fiery spirit resident inside every team member and infinity respectively.
Deccan Chargers Logo
The logo of the franchise representing the state of Deccan also features classical logotype elements such as the crest, stripes and a serif font set employed intelligently to form a contemporary design which can find its origins in the logos of European football teams.
The Twenty20 cricket team logo features a black-colored bull, accentuated with white color, which is just about to charge towards its target. This element has been placed on a black crest base having an overlay of red stripes. “Deccan Chargers”, the name of the team is placed in different shades of gold on the top half of the crest. The team name is also present in the form of the acronym “DC” at the bottom of the crest. The slogan of the team “The Unstoppables”, written in a non-serif typeface, forms a tagline just below the crest.
Update: Deccan Chargers revised their identity with a new logo and color scheme for the 2009 edition of IPL. The revised cricket logo featured a a blue/silver/red color scheme. The red stripes in the background were done away with and the “bull” illustration was cleaned up and placed on a modern crest shape. Similar to the stripes, the initials “DC” and the tagline “The Unstoppables” were removed from the design. The classical serif typeface was also changed to a more modern non-serif one.
Delhi Daredevils Logo
The Delhi Daredevils logo features a cricket ball “going ballistic” with the team name forming its fiery tail. The art style of this cricket team’s logo has been heavily inspired from modern grunge art.
Kings XI Punjab Logo
The Kings XI Punjab logo is a combination of classical logotype elements such as the crest and banner, along with a modern layout and typeface to create a unique hybrid. The logo features a gray-colored, bright red-outlined crest on which two lion heads face opposite sides along with the team name Kings XI Punjab written in bold, block letters. The word “Kings” is adorned on its sides by two cricket balls and “XI” is enclosed in a symbol shaped like a sun. On the top of the crest, there is a banner which has the letters KJHPH inscribed on it.
According to its logo designers:
- The crest epitomizes pride, valour and the mark of a winner.
- The letters ‘KJHPH’ inscribed on the banner on top represent Kashmir, Jammu, Himachal, Punjab and Haryana, the five north-west Indian states which KXIP cricket team actually represents.
The illustration of two lions in the logo has a two-fold meaning:
- The first alludes to the famous phrase “Sher-e-Punjab”, which can be translated as “Lions of Punjab”, which testifies to the bravery and tenacity of the people of this state.
- The lions also point towards the two stalwarts of Punjab’s history, Maharajah Ranjit Singh, the greatest ruler of this land of the five rivers and Bhupinder Singh, the first to lead an Indian cricket team to Lord’s in 1911 and was also instrumental in setting up of the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), the country’s governing body of the sport.
Kolkata Knight Riders Logo
Logo design of the team from the eastern city of Kolkata, whose name has been inspired from a 1980s American TV show, features an angled and blazing golden-colored Viking helmet against a black backdrop. The team name “Kolkata Knight Riders” is emblazoned in gold color alongside the graphic in a highly stylized custom-designed typeface.
Mumbai Indians Logo
The Mumbai Indians logo is a modern, contemporary sports team logo featuring a rotating Sudarshana Chakra , leaving behind trails of orange and green, with the team name “Mumbai Indians” typeset alongside.
Sudarshana Chakra is a sharp-edged weapon predominantly used by the god Vishnu in Hindu Mythology. The orange and green colors are taken from the Indian national flag and point to the “Indians” part of the cricket team’s name. The dark blue-colored text, used in a smart custom-made font here, has been used as the color of choice by all Indian national sports teams since independence.
Rajasthan Royals Logo
The logo of Rajasthan Royals, the eventual winners of the inaugural IPL league, is a classical, blue and gold-colored logo design which features:
- lions reflecting royalty, might and raw power.
- long horns, which are historically associated with the Rajputs – the martial clan of monarchs of this part of India, signify a call to war and a roaring sound which the opposition will come to fear.
- the royal medallion along with the “RR” symbol displays pride held by the cricket team in the Rajput clan and its history.