Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally lifted their first-ever IPL trophy in 2025, defeating Punjab Kings in a high-stakes final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The victory ended an 18-year title drought for one of the league’s most popular and star-studded franchises.
As fans celebrated the long-awaited triumph, one name from RCB’s early days returned to the spotlight Vijay Mallya, the original owner of the franchise. In a recent podcast with entrepreneur Raj Shamani, Mallya shared untold stories from RCB’s origin, his decision to buy the team.
Vijay Mallya reveals price to buy RCB
Mallya revealed that during the inaugural team auction in 2008, he had his eyes on more than one franchise including Mumbai Indians.
"I was very impressed with the pitch that Lalit Modi made to the BCCI committee about this league. He called me one day and said ok, teams are going to be auctioned. Are you going to buy it? So, I bid from three franchises, and I lost Mumbai by a very small amount of money."
Ultimately, he won the bid for Bengaluru, acquiring RCB for $112 million, which translated to approximately ₹600–700 crore at the time the second-highest bid in the league.
Mallya during the podcast also admitted that his motivation for entering the IPL wasn’t driven by love for the sport but by business strategy. He said,"My sole purpose behind buying RCB was to promote my whisky brand, Royal Challenge; there wasn’t any cricket love behind it."
Mallya's top picks for the current RCB team
Mallya also revealed his fantasy picks if he were to build an RCB squad from the current crop of Indian stars. He named Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant as his top choices for today’s RCB lineup.
