After 18 years of ups and downs, Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally clinched the IPL title while knocking out Punjab Kings in 2025. Royal Challengers Bengaluru was always so close to being the people’s team, but it never quite fulfilled the potential. Star players drifted in and out over the years, but Kohli remained the constant.
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While at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Kohli was the center of attention when they finally secured that elusive trophy. This win rekindled memories of Vijay Mallya, the Indian fugitive wanted for extradition. Mallya, talking in a podcast, had said he even tried to buy three teams including the Mumbai Indians, who eventually went to Mukesh Ambani. He purchased RCB for $112 million in 2008, which would have been 600-700 crores at that time.
Mallya mentioned: “Lalit Modi pitched the league to me, and when the teams were up for auction, I lost MI by a tiny bit.” He reflected on how this investment had turned out to be good value in hindsight.
He talked about the auction and the selection of Virat Kohli. Kohli was supposed to be assigned to his home team, but they ended up taking Pradeep Sangwan instead, so that opened the way for RCB to pick him up. “I had been very impressed with Kohli at the U-19 World Cup and so I picked him up. Eighteen years later he is still here as one of India’s premier cricketers,” he said.
When asked about the reason behind purchasing RCB, Mallya responded that it was more to promote his whisky brand Royal Challenge rather than an interest in cricket. If he could now pick players from other teams for RCB, he said he would have Kl Rahul, Rishabh pant and Jasprit Bumrah
