Saint Lucia Zouks are now Saint Lucia Kings, the CPL franchise said in a media release on Monday. The team has got a new logo as well.
In 2020, the franchise was sold to KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, the consortium that owns the Punjab Kings in the IPL. The Punjab Kings had also changed their name from the Kings XI Punjab before IPL 2021.
"The new name and logo are consistent with the KPH Dream Cricket brand while still capturing the essence of Saint Lucia through the name and national colours of Saint Lucian Flag," the release said.
"The brand name and monogram, lion in the team's logo stand for exuberance. While the blue epitomises the sky and the sea, specifically the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea which encircle the country, the roaring lion monogram infuses vigour and vibrancy."
The team, coached by Andy Flower and captained by Faf du Plessis, will also feature Daren Sammy as the team's assistant coach and mentor in CPL 2021. Sammy was the captain till the last year when the team finished as the runners-up.
"I love the logo and I love the new name, and I truly hope that the name can inspire our players to play like the true Kings that we are," Sammy said in the release.
Satish Menon, the CEO of Saint Lucia Kings said, "Saint Lucia Kings is more in line with the positioning that the KPH Dream Cricket brand has, and we believe that the time was right for us to merge the sister brand and its inherent values with the mother brand."
Recently, the owners of the Rajasthan Royals bought a majority stake in the Barbados Tridents, which will now be known as the Barbados Royals, making them the third team after the St Lucia Kings and the Trinbago Knight Riders to be run by the IPL franchise owners.
CPL 2021 will be held between August 26 and September 15, with all 33 games to be played at Warner Park in St Kitts & Nevis.