‘Ee sala cup namde’ to ‘Ee sala cup namdu’ — internet resonates with RCB’s journey

Royal Challengers Bangaluru’s Virat Kohli celebrates the victory over Punjab Kings by 6 runs, with team mates, at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on June 3, 2025. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

For over a decade now, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had been the subject of memes and mockery online. From the iconic “Ee sala cup namde” to posts about RCB fans buying calculators to check if their team qualified for playoffs, the internet has had its own share of meme fest across the 18 editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

When RCB finally lifted the coveted trophy on June 3, it was only natural that the internet had one too many things to say about it.

The significant one was shared by the team’s ex-player AB de Villiers, who joined the celebrations saying “Ee sala cup namdu”, replacing the war cry of the fans throughout the seasons. The word “namde”, which indicates a prediction, was replaced with “namdu”, which indicates ownership.

Most people who are active fans of the team online also belong to Generation Z, who were less than 10 years old when IPL began. Their memes and posts came with a sense of nostalgia with callbacks to ex-players of the franchise, including Bengaluru’s own Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, among others.

Popular Kannada content creator who goes by the name Vickypedia put out a video titled “Finally Ee sari cup namde”, which attracted more than a million views on Instagram.

Another popular creator who goes by Gommaboy, who had been creating videos throughout the season about the team’s performance, put out a funny video which also included an ode to the fans loyalty saying “jerseys changed, captains changed, but RCB fans loyalty did not”.

The fans also joked about the fact that RCB waited till it was “18 years old” (as this was the 18th edition) to lift the trophy and celebrate, as 18 years is considered as the legal age in India for one to be recognised as an adult. Even the Election Commission of India jumped on the meme wagon and urged the citizens to not wait to register to vote if they are 18 years old.

Other than these, the video edits of Virat Kohli, who is lovingly called ‘King Kohli’ by the fans, with emotional songs, many Kannada pop culture references, the image of the ‘Trinity’ of Kohli, de Villers and Chris Gayle, were some of the other posts that were circulating on the internet.

Published - June 04, 2025 04:06 pm IST