Bhuvneshwar Kumar praised the RCB franchise for their comeback in IPL 2024. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also expressed his excitement on making a return to the same team with which he began his T20 career. Veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar expressed his excitement about rejoining the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025 season. Bhuvneshwar Kumar said that he had no idea whether Royal Challengers Bengaluru would go for him or not in the auction.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was acquired by RCB for a whopping ₹10.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction. The medium-pace bowler will return to the franchise after previously playing for them in 2009 and 2010. He had also played for SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and the now-defunct Pune Warriors India.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one of the most successful bowlers in the history of the Indian Premier League and India
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has played 21 Tests, 121 ODIs and 87 T20Is for India since making his international debut against Pakistan in Bengaluru on December 25, 2012, was signed for Rs 10.75 crore by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2025 mega auction which was held across two days in Jeddah.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is India’s most successful fast bowler in IPL history. The two-time purple cap winner has played a total of 176 matches for Pune Warriors India and SRH and has 181 wickets to his name. The 34-year-old is the second most successful pacer in T20Is but hasn’t played for the Men in Blue since November 22, 2022.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was associated with RCB in 2009-10 but he never got a chance to play any IPL match for the Bengaluru-based franchise. He however played one match for the team in the Champions League during the 2009 season. In the IPL 2025 mega auction, five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants were engaged in an intense bidding war for securing the services of Bhuvneshwar Kumar but in the end, RCB managed to seal a deal for Rs 10.75 crore.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one of the most successful bowlers in the history of the Indian Premier League. The premier pacer is the highest wicket-taker in the league among fast bowlers. In the 176 games, he has racked up 181 wickets.
The India National Cricket Team fast bowler has been going through terrific form in the T20 Cricket. He has been oozing his class with the ball in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25 for Uttar Pradesh.
He also claimed a hat-trick in the tournament, picking 11 wickets from eight innings at an average of 12.90 and an economy rate of just 5.64. With the kind of form he is in, it will be a massive boost for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL.
Bhuvneshwar’s T20 journey began in 2009 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru during the Champions League T20, where he went wicket-less. Now, 15 years later, he returns to RCB as one of the most successful seamers in T20 cricket. With a record-breaking SMAT campaign and an IPL deal to match, the swing king from Meerut remains a force to reckon with.
The pacer was elated to be back to the same franchise where he began his career. The 34-year-old was sold for a whopping price of Rs 10.75 crore to RCB in IPL 2025 mega auction. The official social media handle of the franchise shared a special video of Bhuvneshwar talking about RCB.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar Shows His Excitement After Getting Picked By RCB for IPL 2025 and is eagerly awaiting to join the team
Senior Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has expressed his delight at re-joining Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after more than a decade. The franchise bought him for a whopping sum of INR 10.75 crore at the IPL 2025 auction. The medium pacer revealed that he had no idea whether the Bengaluru-based franchise would go after him.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar said in a video shared by RCB on X (via India Today):
“I had no idea whether RCB would go for me or not. Because the auction is a different dynamic. You don’t know what’s going to happen. But yes, when they picked me, I got a message from the director, the coach, and everyone else.”
“Honestly, it feels great to be back in RCB. It’s not new for me in terms of the environment because I know most of the guys. But of course, there are new guys, I’ll meet them. We’ll have a chat and we’ll play alongside for three months now. I spoke to them. I’m really looking forward to this IPL,” he added.
Bhuvneshwar further added that RCB have covered all their bases in the auction:
“If you look at the bowling attack, I think RCB management has covered all the bases. Experience, skill-wise, pace, bounce, whatever that is. I think they’ve covered all the bases.”
RCB made a miraculous comeback from the bottom of the table to finish in the top 4 in IPL 2024. They registered six wins on the trot to qualify for the playoffs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was part of SRH during that time and admitted that he was still in awe of their performance.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has second most wickets in IPL among pacers
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one of the leading wicket-takers in IPL with 181 scalps in 176 games at an economy rate of 7.56. Among pacers, he is only behind Dwayne Bravo, who bagged 183 wickets in 161 matches.
Most wickets in IPL
- Yuzvendra Chahal – 205 wickets
- Piyush Chawla – 192 wickets
- Dwayne Bravo – 183 wickets
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 181 wickets
- Sunil Narine and Ravichandran Ashwin – 180 wickets
He picked up 11 wickets in 16 matches for SunRisers Hyderabad last season. The UP-based pacer played his first two seasons for RCB in 2009 and 2010 before joining now-defunct Pune Warriors India (2011 to 2013). He then joined SRH in 2014 and stayed there till the 2024 edition of the tournament. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was last seen in action in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, picking up 11 wickets in nine games at an economy rate of 6.03.