Fans, particularly from Karnataka, were unhappy at the first anthem released since it was mostly in English and Hindi. A second Kannada rap version of the anthem was released later on Friday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) released its anthem for the upcoming 2020 Indian Premier League season on Friday but the franchise was met with backlash from fans over the mix of languages in the song.
The anthem starts with the chanting of "RCB, RCB" followed by Kannada phrases like "Yene Barali" (Whatever may come), and Enthe Irali (Whatever may be) sung by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, two of the most recognisable players in the team.
This is followed by a song sung in a mix of English and Hindi with lyrics like "Har dil mein hai, Dhadkan teri, Har dhadkan gaati" and "Tere greatest Fans hum, Deewane 12th Man hum, RCB ki, cheering se, Gunje har stadium, Dikha de sabko".
Fans, particularly from Karnataka, were unhappy at the anthem' over the disparity in its usage of Kannada and Hindi.
The RCB anthem uses a lot of Hindi and boy, the fans are furious! https://t.co/FugpRxmlSB
— Abhishek Baxi (@baxiabhishek) September 18, 2020
After all that @DanishSait did to promote Kannada across India organically, RCB anthem is a big let down! We need to have more pride in our core values. The anthem is out of touch with core RCB fan base. https://t.co/vLIR7LthqJ
— Arun Pai (@arundpai) September 18, 2020
However, RCB released a second anthem which was a Kannada rap version of the song.
Earlier this week, in an interview with TNM, 'Namma Team RCB', the fanclub of the IPL franchise said that it had recommended to the team management to pick players from Karnataka last year.
RCB starts the IPL season with its first game on Monday against Sunrisers Hyderabad.