Rajasthan Royals, the Jaipur franchise of the Indian Premier League and winners of the first season of IPL, have unveiled a new logo for their team.

The new logo, that retains the original colours but has different symbol size, will be seen in Rajasthan Royals’ advertising and marketing campaigns slated to start in the next couple of weeks, according to company executives.

The Rajasthan Royals team is led and coached by maverick Australian player Shane Warne. The team’s mascot is a lion named Moochu Singh.

The logo will continue to sport the basic colors of Blue and Gold from the old logo, but the lion buglers would be more prominent and the RR symbol larger than the previous size. The symbol would also occupy a central space in the new logo. The overall crest is more circular compared to the original logo which was more oval.

Commenting on the change, Raghu Iyer, chief marketing officer, Rajasthan Royals said: “The new logo re-emphasizes the strategic intent of the Rajasthan Royals. It’s a year of new beginnings for us and the new logo launch is our commitment to our fans as they were instrumental in helping us decide what all elements needed strengthening.”

The team is considering re-branding initiatives to highlight the new logo including re-branding of the jersey and merchandise among other things. Rajasthan Royals is also looking to partner with international brands for licensing and merchandising.

Owners of the team, Emerging Media & Rajasthan Royals, are in the process of raising Rs 100-150 crore by selling around 10% stake for the same. The funds will be deployed for acquiring cricket franchises overseas, specially in South Africa and Australia, as well as extending the Rajasthan Royals brand into other sports.

In addition, a part of the fund will also be used for recruiting players for Rajasthan Royals. The team is appointing a banker for the transaction and the franchise is expected to be valued at about $200 million. Lachlan Murdoch, son of media baron Rupert Murdoch, is one of the key shareholders of the franchise.