Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore, also known as RCB, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 by United Spirits, the team's home ground is M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. They won their first title in 2025. The team finished as the runners-up on three occasions: in 2009, 2011, and 2016. They have also qualified for the playoffs in ten of the eighteen seasons.

As of 2025, the team is captained by Rajat Patidar and coached by Andy Flower. The franchise has competed in the Champions League, finishing as runners-up in the 2011 season. As of 2024, RCB was valued at $117 million, making it one of the most valuable franchises.

In September 2007, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the establishment of the Indian Premier League (IPL) a Twenty20 competition set to begin in 2008. On 24 January 2008, an auction was held in Mumbai for the league's teams, which represented eight different cities in India, including Bengaluru. The Bangalore franchise was acquired by Vijay Mallya for US$111.6 million, making it the second-highest bid, slightly less than Reliance Industries' US$111.9 million bid for the Mumbai Indians.

Ahead of the 2008 player auction, the IPL designated Rahul Dravid as the icon player for the Bangalore franchise. This designation ensured that Dravid would be paid 15% more than the highest bid player at the auction. The franchise acquired several prominent Indian and international players, including Jacques Kallis, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, and Cameron White. In the second round of the auction, they also signed Ross Taylor, Misbah-ul-Haq, and India under-19 World Cup-winning captain Virat Kohli. The franchise named Dravid as the captain of the team and appointed Venkatesh Prasad as the head coach. The team struggled in the inaugural season, winning only four out of their 14 matches and finishing seventh in the eight-team table. Dravid was the sole player to score more than 300 runs in the tournament, and the team even had to bench their most expensive foreign player, Kallis, for several matches due to his poor form. Midway through the season, the string of failures led to the sacking of CEO Charu Sharma, who was replaced by Brijesh Patel. Mallya publicly criticised Dravid and Sharma for their selection of players at the auction, stating that his "biggest mistake was to abstain from the selection of the team." Eventually, the chief cricketing officer of the franchise, Martin Crowe, resigned and Prasad was replaced by Ray Jennings as the head coach.

At the 2009 player auction, the franchise signed Kevin Pietersen for a record US$1.55 million, making him the most expensive player alongside Andrew Flintoff (Chennai Super Kings). They also traded Zaheer Khan for Robin Uthappa with the Mumbai Indians and brought in local batsman Manish Pandey. Due to general elections in India, the tournament was held in South Africa. Pietersen was named captain, but after a string of initial losses, Anil Kumble took over the captaincy when Pietersen left for national duty. RCB's performance improved under Kumble, winning six of their last eight matches to finish third in the league table. They defeated Chennai Super Kings in the semi-final but fell short by six runs in the final against Deccan Chargers.

In 2010, the Royal Challengers, under Kumble's captaincy, secured seven wins from 14 matches, accumulating 14 points. Tied with three other teams for a playoff spot, their superior net run rate qualified them for the semi-finals. In the semi-final, they were defeated by the table-toppers, the Mumbai Indians, by 35 runs. However, the Royal Challengers secured a convincing nine-wicket win over the defending champions, the Deccan Chargers, in the third-place playoff, thus qualifying for the 2010 Champions League Twenty20. Kumble retired at the conclusion of the Champions League, having led the team to the semi-finals of both the IPL and the CLT20 that year.

On 8 January 2011, the IPL Governing Council held the auction for the fourth season of the league. Franchises had the option of retaining a maximum of four players for a sum of US$4.5 million. However, RCB retained only Virat Kohli, leaving their other players to re-enter the auction pool. During the auction, Bangalore made significant acquisitions, including Tillakaratne Dilshan, Zaheer Khan, AB de Villiers, Daniel Vettori, Saurabh Tiwary, Dirk Nannes, and Cheteshwar Pujara. Daniel Vettori was named captain for the season. RCB began their campaign with a win over the newly formed Kochi Tuskers Kerala. However, they faced three consecutive defeats against Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, and Chennai Super Kings. Dirk Nannes was replaced by Chris Gayle because of an injury. Gayle's inclusion led RCB to a seven-match winning streak. In their final league match, RCB defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings, securing the top position in the points table. They lost the final, again facing the Super Kings, by 58 runs. Chris Gayle was named Man of the Tournament. Royal Challengers Bangalore reached the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 semi-finals after finishing runner-up in the IPL. They won their final group match against Southern Redbacks on the last ball and beat New South Wales Blues in the semis. They lost the final to Mumbai Indians.

Before the 2012 auction, RCB retained Chris Gayle and secured Andrew McDonald from Delhi Daredevils. In the auction, RCB acquired Vinay Kumar and Muttiah Muralitharan. RCB began the 2012 IPL season without Chris Gayle, who was recovering from an injury. AB de Villiers and Muttiah Muralitharan contributed to a winning start against Delhi Daredevils. RCB won eight out of their sixteen games but failed to qualify for the playoffs. Gayle was the highest run-scorer of the tournament with 733 runs, including a century.