Chennai-based media and television group Sun TV Network, the new owner of the Indian Premier League (IPL)’s Hyderabad franchise, today unveiled the name and logo of its team.
‘Sunrisers’— the name and the logo, which is depicted with an eagle spreading its wings against the backdrop of a rising Sun, was unveiled by Sunrisers CEO K Shanmugam along with team’s mentor-strategic analyst and former cricketer Krishnamachari Srikanth and coach Tom Moody.
The event marks a quick end to unpleasant developments like non-payment of players' salaries, which the team had to put up with under the earlier owner Hyderabad-based Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL), culminating into the termination of Deccan Chargers franchise by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in September.
Former cricketer from Andhra Pradesh, Shivlal Yadav and Venkatapathi Raju, were present on the occasion.
The Sun group would be retaining 20 of the 25-odd players in the earlier franchise. Srikanth said they were looking forward to getting some all rounders into the team at the auction on January, 19. Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara, who led the Deccan Chargers, would continue to be the captain for now, he added.
Shanmugam said by the third week of next month they would be able to disclose the names of the sponsors. “We are talking to some of the prospective sponsors. We have our marketing strategies in place,” he told reporters after unveiling the name and logo.
The Sun group had won the franchise for around Rs 425 crore in a bidding conducted by the BCCI on October 25 beating the lone competitor, Hyderabad-based PVP Ventures promoted by film personality and realtor Prasad V Potluri.