Vijay Mallya was one of the thousand fans who wished Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after their 50-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an IPL 2025 encounter at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. Th former owner of the franchise, who is currently residing in the United Kingdom and faces arrest upon return to India, posted a congratulatory message on social media platform X.
After a victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the tournament opener, RCB’s win against CSK helped consolidate their position at the top of the IPL 2025 points table with four points from two games.
“Congratulations to RCB for an emphatic victory over Southern rivals CSK in their Chepauk fortress after 18 long years. A great all round performance with bat and ball. Play Bold guys,” Vijay Mallya posted on X. The 69-year-old, who owned the franchise for eight seasons from 2008, is being involved in several financial crimes in India.
The businessman is accused of defaulting loans worth ₹9000 crores from several Indian banks. The Government of India has been pursuing Vijay Mallya extradition for almost a year now. He was also a Member of Parliament until his expulsion in 2016.
RCB end 17-year winless streak in Chennai
Earlier, skipper Rajat Patidar’s fifty received excellent support from an unerring set of bowlers as RCB snapped a 17-year winless streak at Chepauk over CSK. Having fought their way to a competitive 196/7, RCB applied the perfect squeeze on CSK with early strikes and the five-time winners crumbled without any resistance, making 146/8.
CSK’s defeat to RCB in the “Southern Derby” in their own “Anbuden” (Den of Love) was their first since the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008 and it was also their biggest reversal at home thus far.
The value of the victory could have gauged from the wide smile on the face of old warhorse Virat Kohli, the only one man in this RCB line-up who was part of that distant 2008 victory.
RCB’s win came courtesy a heady mix of orthodox game of giving it all with the bat and stifling the opposition with regular wickets.
