Gujarat Lions IPL: The Team That Roared, Then Faded — But Never Really Left
By Snikio Sports Desk | blog updated on August 2025
Some teams play cricket. Some leave behind echoes. The Gujarat Lions IPL did the latter
It’s funny, in a way — you don’t always measure a franchise by the number of trophies. Sometimes it’s the noise they made while they lasted, the buzz they brought into living rooms and chai shops, the way they sneaked into cricket conversations even when the bigger boys — Mumbai Indians, CSK — were still strutting around.
The Lions were never supposed to be permanent. They were never meant to last — just a stopgap, stitched together after CSK and Rajasthan were shoved out in that messy suspension saga. But in those two brief summers, 2016 and 2017, something unlikely happened: Gujarat, a state that had no IPL heartbeat till then, suddenly pulsed with orange shirts and roaring pride.
The Debut That Turned Rajkot Into a Carnival
The summer of 2016 was madness. Rajkot’s streets bursting at the seams, roadside vendors hawking fake jerseys that sold faster than hot fafdas, and boys screaming Raina’s name as if he were some local folk hero, not just a cricketer flown in for a franchise. For once, the city wasn’t talking about politics or garba season, but about live scores. Not just cricket exchange score on an app, but the urgency of “score kya hai abhi?” yelled from tea stalls.
🚨 Toss 🚨@LucknowIPL elected to field against @gujarat_titans
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 12, 2025
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/VILHBLEerV #TATAIPL | #LSGvGT pic.twitter.com/F8T97VJ5Mv
And the Lions delivered. They didn’t creep in quietly — they stormed in. Topping the points table, winning against established giants, and then, almost cruelly, stumbling at the very edge. Knocked out before the final by Sunrisers Hyderabad. It felt less like failure and more like heartbreak.
The Men Who Made It Roar
Brendon McCullum swinging like every ball was his last. Dinesh Karthik with that calm, stubborn captain’s brain. And then there was Irfan Pathan — still glowing from the memories of 2007 when India shocked the world in the T20 World Cup. Raina, naturally, became the poster boy. Funny thing is, the squad was pulled together almost overnight, yet on the field they looked like old friends playing gullies together since childhood.
Their colors — bright orange and green — looked gaudy to some. But for Gujarat, it was perfect. Loud, unapologetic, festive. Like Navratri in the middle of April.
And Then, Just Silence
Two years. That’s all they got. By 2018, CSK and RR were back, and Gujarat Lions were gently nudged out of the story. No official farewell, no big goodbye match. Just a line in history: “Defunct after 2017.”
But here’s the thing: talk to fans today, and they’ll still slip them into conversation. While checking today’s match live score kabaddi updates or scrolling through trending news about sports, you’ll hear it — “Yaad hai, Lions ke saath pehle season mein kya hua tha?” It lingers, like a song that got cut short.
IPL and the Bigger Picture
The IPL has never just been cricket. It’s been theatre, politics, cinema, and economy rolled into one. And Gujarat Lions, in their short life, mirrored that. They weren’t the cheapest 5G budget phone type of team, nor the Rolls Royce CSK. They were more like a solid mid-range car — affordable, flashy enough, reliable, and fun while it lasted.
And maybe that’s why they clicked. Because they looked human. Not invincible. They won plenty, yes, but they also lost in ways that reminded fans of their own vulnerabilities.
The Hope for a Return
Every new season, every IPL auction, the chatter comes back: “Will the Lions roar again?” No one knows. The BCCI hasn’t said a word. But nostalgia is a stubborn thing. Fans post old clips on social media, sports news headlines occasionally recycle their story, and you realize — this team may be gone, but it’s not forgotten.
The calls grow louder during monsoon evenings, when rain interrupts matches and people have more time to argue about “what ifs.” It’s almost like Gujarat Lions are still waiting in the wings, ready for a surprise return.
A Quiet Legacy
So, what’s their legacy? Not titles. Not records. But something harder to measure. They made Gujarat believe it could be an IPL state. They gave kids new cricketing posters for their walls. And they gave Indian cricket a reminder that sometimes even temporary things leave permanent marks.
To be honest, that’s enough.
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