Former owner of IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Vijay Mallya has recently made a big statement saying that he was the first person who included Virat Kohli in RCB during the first season of IPL.
It is worth noting that recently on June 3, in the final of IPL 2025, RCB won the IPL trophy after 18 years. Virat Kohli played 17 seasons for the team as a player and captain, but he could not win the trophy even once. But this time under the captaincy of Rajat Patidar, RCB won the IPL trophy in its very first season.
Meanwhile, former team owner Mallya recalled being present at the first auction and draft for Under-19 players, in which Virat was also included. During this, Mallya decided to include this Delhi player in the team.
He said Kohli’s impressive performance for India in the Under-19 World Cup 2008 played a key role in influencing his decision. Mallya said it was natural to appoint the Indian legend as the captain of the franchise later.
Vijay Mallya gave a big statement
Let us tell you that recently Vijay Mallya, as quoted by Cricbuzz, said – I was the person who selected Virat Kohli. I was sitting for the selection, and as soon as my turn came, I immediately selected Virat. Obviously, his performance with India’s Under-19 team was an influential factor. Therefore, he was a natural choice to become the RCB captain.
Let us tell you that Virat Kohli has played for 18 consecutive seasons for the RCB team, and he is the first player in the league history to play cricket for the same team for 18 seasons. So, during this time, Kohli has scored a total of 8661 runs in 267 matches at an average of 39.55. He is the highest run scorer in IPL.