Birla era begins in RCB Who is former cricketer Aryaman Birla? Who bought Virat Kohli’s team for 16,700 crores

News India Live, Digital Desk: Just before the start of IPL 2026, the biggest news of the year has come out from the cricket world. The command of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has now completely changed. The consortium led by the country’s leading industrial house Aditya Birla Group has acquired the franchise for a record ₹16,706 crore ($1.78 billion). The special thing is that the new chairman of the team will be none other than Kumar Mangalam Birla’s son and former cricketer Aryaman Vikram Birla. Journey from the field to the boardroom: Aryaman Birla, who was once a part of Rajasthan Royals, becoming the chairman of RCB is like a ‘full circle’ journey. 28-year-old Aryaman himself has been a professional cricketer. In the 2018 IPL auction, he was bought by Rajasthan Royals (RR) for ₹30 lakh. Although, he did not get a chance to take the field, today he is making a comeback as the owner and chairman of one of the most popular teams of the same league. He has also played domestic cricket for Madhya Pradesh, where he scored a brilliant century against Bengal at the Eden Gardens. Had left cricket for mental health, will now take up big responsibility. As interesting as Aryaman’s cricket career was, his struggle was equally courageous. In 2019, when his career was on the decline, he decided to take an indefinite break from cricket due to ‘severe anxiety’ and mental health reasons. His move sparked a new debate on mental health in Indian sports. After leaving cricket, he completed his studies and did MBA from Harvard Business School and made his place in the strategic decisions of Birla empire. RCB captain has an old relationship with Rajat Patidar. An interesting coincidence is that the current captain of RCB Rajat Patidar and Aryaman Birla are old friends. Both of them have opened together for the Madhya Pradesh team and shared the dressing room. Now it will be exciting to see whether these two old friends on the field are able to lead RCB to its first IPL title as owner and captain. Will RCB’s fortunes change? This investment of Aditya Birla Group is being considered as the most expensive deal in the history of IPL. Aryaman, in collaboration with Times of India Group and other global investors, is now preparing to make RCB a global sports brand. As the new chairman, he has said that he will bring a ‘player-first’ approach to the team, so that the players can get world-class facilities and environment to perform better.