Bengaluru Raptors (previously Banga Beats, Bengaluru Blasters) is a professional badminton franchise representing

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

in the

Premier Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. It features nine state or city-based franchise teams and the top Indian and interna ...

(PBL). The team was one of the six founding members of the Premier Badminton League (previously

Indian Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. It features nine state or city-based franchise teams and the top Indian and interna ...

) in 2013. The Raptors last featured in season 5 of the

(2020), finishing as champions for the second time in their history. They previously finished as champions in the 2018-19 edition, defeating the Mumbai Rockets in the final.

Franchise history

Franchise ownership

The franchise was initially owned by the conglomerate, BOP group in 2013 before

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

bought the franchise and named it after his Blasters sports franchises in 2016. In 2018, Matrix Badminton Teamworks Pvt. Ltd. took over the team and renamed it to Bengaluru Raptors. The team is currently owned by Slash21 Sports Management Pvt. Ltd. along with the Kankanala Sports Group.

Franchise participation

The

based franchise first featured in the Indian Badminton League in 2013 under the name Banga Beats. The team's name was later changed to the Bengaluru Topguns and then to Bengaluru Blasters, featuring in the first 3 seasons of the

recording their best performance in the 2017-18 season, where they finished as runners-up. In the 2018-19 season, the team was officially renamed to Bengaluru Raptors, consequently recording back to back victories in the

in season 4 and 5 respectively.

Season history

Indian Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. It features nine state or city-based franchise teams and the top Indian and interna ...
(IBL), 2013

Sources: The inaugural edition of the

saw the participation of six teams that begun on the 14th of August 2013. Banga Beats finished 6th in the overall standings in their debut season, recording two victories in five games. After losing their opening game against the Mumbai Masters, they bounced back by recording a win against the

Awadhe Warriors Awadhe Warriors is a badminton team owned by Sahara Adventure Sports Limited a group company of Sahara India for the Premier Badminton League (PBL). The team's home ground is Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, Lucknow. The team is coached by ...

. They then went on to face consecutive defeats against the Pune Pistons and the Delhi Smashers before recording a win in their final game against the Hyderabad HotShots. The Hyderabad HotShots finished as champions of that season.

Premier Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. It features nine state or city-based franchise teams and the top Indian and interna ...
, 2016

The maiden season of the

saw the participation of six teams, with the top four teams advancing to the semi-finals. The

based franchise was officially renamed to Bengaluru Topguns for the season and finished at the bottom of the table, recording 10 points in 5 games. The Delhi Dashers finished as the champions of the inaugural season of the PBL. * Each tie (MP) will have five matches each. Regular Match Win (RMW) = 1 point, Trump Match Win (TMW) = 2 points, Trump Match Lost (TML) = -1 point

Premier Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. It features nine state or city-based franchise teams and the top Indian and interna ...
, 2017

The second edition of the

featured 6 teams and was held in January 2017. The Bengaluru Topguns were officially renamed to Bengaluru Blasters following a transfer in ownership. The Blasters finished the season at 5th place, recording 14 points in 5 ties. The Bengaluru Blasters recorded their first and only victory of that season in their first match against the Delhi Acers. The Chennai Smashers finished as champions of the second edition of the PBL. * Each tie (MP) will have five matches each. Regular Match Win (RMW) = 1 point, Trump Match Win (TMW) = 2 points, Trump Match Lost (TML) = -1 point

Premier Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. It features nine state or city-based franchise teams and the top Indian and interna ...
, 2017-18

The third edition of the

saw the participation of eight teams, with the top four teams advancing to the semi-finals. The Bengaluru Blasters finished as runners-up for the season, facing a defeat in the final against the Hyderabad Hunters. The Bengaluru Blasters finished at fourth in the league stage, recording a total of 14 points. The Blasters recorded two consecutive wins in their first two games against the Delhi Dashers and the Mumbai Rockets respectively and then went on to lose their next three games, ending their league stage campaign with a defeat against the Hyderabad Hunters. A semi-final victory against the Ahmedabad Smash Masters saw the Bengaluru franchise advance into the final for the first time in their history. The Bengaluru Blasters faced defeat in the final against the Hyderabad Hunters.

Premier Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. It features nine state or city-based franchise teams and the top Indian and interna ...
, 2018-19

The fourth edition of the

featured nine teams with the

Pune 7 Aces Pune 7 Aces (or 7 ACES – Pune) is a franchise badminton team based in Pune that plays in the Premier Badminton League. The franchise was formed in 2018 and has competed only in the season of 2018–19. The team is owned by Indian actress Ta ...

joining as a new team that season. The Bengaluru Blasters were officially renamed as the Bengaluru Raptors for the season. After losing the first game of the season against the Ahmedabad Smash Masters, the Raptors managed to win all of their remaining games, going on to defeat the

in the semi-final and the Mumbai Rockets in the final to record their maiden

title.

Premier Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. It features nine state or city-based franchise teams and the top Indian and interna ...
, 2020

The fifth edition of the

featured seven competing teams. The Bengaluru Raptors defeated the

Northeastern Warriors North Eastern Warriors is a badminton team representing Guwahati, Assam owned by The Eastern Warriors Pvt. Ltd. for the Premier Badminton League Premier Badminton League, aka PBL, is a team badminton league operating in India. It was launc ...

in the final to become the first team to win consecutive titles in the competition's history. They recorded 22 points from 6 ties, and finished second in the points table at the end of the league stage. The Raptors faced three consecutive defeats in their first three games but managed to turn things around and qualify for the semi-final with victories over the Hyderabad Hunters, Mumbai Rockets and

without losing a single match in either of the ties.

Overall season summary

Team roster, 2020

Source:

Honours

Premier Badminton League, 2017-18 * Runners-up Premier Badminton League, 2018-19 * Champions Premier Badminton League, 2020 * Champions

References

{{Premier Badminton League Premier Badminton League teams Sport in Bengaluru