"Change of ownership..."- Former RCB star reflects on IPL 2025 winners' future in 2026

The former star batter of India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Mohammad Kaif, revealed that despite winning the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the champions were put on sale, only months after their success. There have been discussions on the franchise’s ownership, as the confirmation later came from Diageo.

Diageo has already initiated the process of selling the IPL 2025 winners as well as their team for the Women’s Premier League (WPL), which is three years old and has a title to its name from the 2024 edition. Kaif claimed that the potential change of ownership won’t affect the winning template on the field.

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“I think the best thing about RCB from last time was how they performed in the auction. They appointed a new captain, and his bonding with Virat Kohli was also good. What hadn’t happened in the team’s history before happened the previous time. Bowlers had more say in their title victory. Whether we talk of Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, and Yash Dayal.” Kaif expressed on his YouTube video

Mohammad Kaif sheds light on RCB’s winning template ahead of IPL 2026 season

Under the leadership of Rajat Patidar, Bengaluru finished the league stage of the tournament in the second position as they earned nine victories in 14 group-stage fixtures at a net run rate of +0.301. Bengaluru got the better of the Punjab Kings in the first qualifier and the final in Mullanpur and Ahmedabad, respectively.

“Whoever comes as owners, RCB have now set a template that Kohli bats at the top and Tim David plays as a finisher. They brought Phil Salt – Kohli and Salt gave good starts. Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya aren’t that big names, but Pandya proved himself as a match-winner with the bat. He also performed well with the ball.” Kaif addressed in the same YouTube video.

For Bengaluru, Virat Kohli was the leading run-getter with 657 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 144.71, while in the bowling department, Josh Hazlewood was the highest wicket-taker as he collected 22 wickets in 12 innings at an average of 17.55, thanks to one four-wicket haul.