Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL

Kohli's franchise

Royal Challengers signed Virat Kohli in 2008 through the Under-19 draft, and he has played every season of his IPL career for them, the only player to stay with one franchise from the first season on. He was the only player they kept before the 2011 mega auction, captained them from 2013 to 2021, and in 2016 scored 973 runs, the most in any IPL season.

The great batting sides

With Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, Bangalore had the most feared top order of the early 2010s. Gayle, famously unsold in 2011 and signed as a replacement, made 175 not out in 2013. The side reached finals in 2009, 2011 and 2016 and lost all three. Their batting could post huge totals, and their bowling could not always defend them; in 2017 the same franchise was bowled out for 49.

Buying big

Bangalore set the record price twice in their first seven seasons, for Kevin Pietersen in 2009 and Yuvraj Singh in 2014, and in 2021 spent more than anyone. Several of their biggest buys, Tymal Mills and Kyle Jamieson among them, delivered little, while one of their best was almost free: Yuzvendra Chahal, bought uncapped for ₹10 lakh in 2014, became their leading wicket-taker for years. The table of record buys below is, more than any other franchise's, a list of famous names.

The title

The franchise was renamed Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2024, matching the city's official name. At the 2025 mega auction they kept only Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal, rebuilt around bowlers, including Josh Hazlewood, and made Patidar captain. They beat Punjab Kings in the final to win their first title after seventeen seasons.

Bengaluru in CricArcade

In IPL Dynasty you can start with Bangalore in 2008 and try to win the title in fewer than seventeen attempts.

The Chinnaswamy effect

Bangalore play at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, one of the smallest grounds in the league, at altitude, where totals are high and bowlers suffer. It has shaped the franchise more than any purchase. For years Bangalore built batting line-ups that suited the ground and struggled to find bowlers who could defend at it. In 2013 they made 263, then the highest total in the league, and Gayle's 175 not out came in the same innings.

AB de Villiers played for Bangalore from 2011 to 2021 and, with Kohli, gave them the most reliable pair of batters in the league. He was kept before the 2014 and 2018 mega auctions.

Bangalore by the numbers

Across the archive Bangalore have spent more at auction than every current franchise except Punjab and Delhi, and they were the biggest spenders in 2021. More of their money has gone on overseas players than at most franchises, and more on wicketkeepers than most, from Dinesh Karthik at ₹10.5 crore in 2015 to Phil Salt and Jitesh Sharma in 2025.

Their knockout record before 2025 was a long list of near misses: three lost finals and eliminator or qualifier defeats in 2015, 2020, 2022 and 2024. The title side of 2025 was built differently, with the largest share of the franchise's biggest mega-auction outlay going on bowlers, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar among them, and it won again in 2026.

The 2016 season

Bangalore's most famous season was one they did not win. In 2016 Kohli scored 973 runs, with four hundreds, a record for a single IPL season that still stood years later, and de Villiers made almost 700 more. Bangalore won their last several league matches to scrape into the playoffs, beat Gujarat Lions in the first qualifier, and lost the final to Hyderabad by eight runs.

It was the fullest expression of the franchise's approach for most of its history: the best batting in the league, a bowling attack that could not quite match it, and a trophy that went elsewhere. The 2025 side was the first built the other way round.

Captains

Rahul Dravid captained Bangalore in the first season, Kevin Pietersen and Anil Kumble in the second, when Kumble led them to the final, and Daniel Vettori took them to the 2011 final. Kohli led from 2013 to 2021 without a title, Faf du Plessis from 2022 to 2024, and Rajat Patidar, a player the franchise had developed, captained the 2025 champions. Of all those captains, only Kohli played every season for the franchise.

Reading Bangalore's tables

The record buys below include some of the biggest names in the league's history, Pietersen, Yuvraj, Maxwell and Hazlewood among them, and the spend chart shows how often Bangalore reached for the market. The retention lists tell the quieter story: Kohli kept at every mega auction, de Villiers for two, and in 2025 a small core around which the title side was finally built. It took seventeen seasons and five mega auctions to get there, and the side retained its title a year later.