“I was the one who picked Virat Kohli in IPL” - Former RCB owner Vijay Mallya

Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise owner Vijay Mallya has disclosed he was the one who picked Virat Kohli in the inaugural IPL 2008 draft for the U19 players. Notably, Kohli was then part of the Indian U19 team, propelling the side to the title victory.

His heroics in the U19 World Cup led Vijay Mallya to pick him in his franchise for the IPL 2008 season from the U19 draft. A few seasons later, Kohli went on to lead the RCB franchise and in 2005, they clinched their first-ever IPL title under the leadership of Rajat Patidar.

“I was the one who picked Virat Kohli. I was sitting there for the pick, and the minute it was my turn, I immediately chose Virat. Obviously, his performance with the India Under-19 team was an influencing factor. So, he was a natural choice to be the RCB captain,” said Vijay Mallya as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Speaking about Kohli’s stats in IPL for the RCB franchise, he has played 267 games, scoring 8661 runs at an average of 39.54, accumulating 63 fifties and eight centuries. He has been loyal to the RCB franchise since Day 1 of the IPL.

Interestingly, RCB reached the IPL finals on four different occasions in 2009, 2011, 2016, and 2025. While they failed to have their hands in the remaining three seasons, they were successful in defeating Punjab Kings by six runs in the IPL 2025 final to lift the elusive silverware.

Kohli went on to play a crucial role for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2025 season, which turned out to be a title-winning season for the franchise. He scored 657 runs from 15 games, including his 43-run vital knock against PBKS in the grand finale. He ended the season as the leading run-scorer.

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