Parthiv Patel said Royal Challengers Bengaluru rejected his suggestion to sign Jasprit Bumrah at the 2014 mega-auction
Patel recalled that he raised Bumrah’s name after RCB picked him in the auction
Bumrah had already made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2013, with Virat Kohli taking his first wicket
'Ye Bumrah-Vumrah Kya Karenge?': How RCB Missed Chance To Acquire Jasprit In 2014 IPL Mega Auction
Former India batter Parthiv Patel said Royal Challengers Bengaluru ignored his advice to sign Jasprit Bumrah during the 2014 IPL mega-auction. Patel recalled that after RCB picked him, he urged the management to consider Bumrah, who was from Gujarat. Bumrah later became a star for Mumbai Indians.
Summary
Former India batter Parthiv Patel said Royal Challengers Bengaluru ignored his recommendation to sign Jasprit Bumrah at the 2014 mega-auction. Patel said RCB picked him first and, in the middle of the auction, he urged the management to look into Bumrah, who came from Gujarat, the same state as Patel.
Patel said the management strongly rebuffed the suggestion. Bumrah would later become arguably India’s greatest pacer, a T20 phenomenon and one of Mumbai Indians’ biggest scouting successes.
In a podcast with Aakash Chopra, Parthiv Patel recalled an anecdote where he narrated the story on a live broadcast that led to a meltdown on the internet from RCB Fans.
"I recommended Jasprit Bumrah to RCB for the 2014 IPL Mega Auction. I was picked by RCB on the first day. I received a message and recommended Jasprit's name, saying, 'Ye ek player hai, ise dekh lena' (This is a player, please have a look). Maybe the way I communicated the message was wrong; I received a reply from the management: 'Ye Bumrah-Vumrah kya kar lenge?'"
Patel now says he wishes he had handled the anecdote differently.
The former India wicketkeeper said he regretted bringing up the story on a live broadcast and then reacting after it spread on social media platform X.
“I maybe shouldn’t have said it like that. They didn’t think that he could be worth buying at that stage. That is okay. But that went very viral. So I wrote (on X), ‘Neem patta aur sach dono kadwa hai‘ (Neem leaves and truth are always bitter), and people made of it what they wanted to," Patel said.
Bumrah’s Early Rise
Bumrah had already made his IPL debut with Mumbai Indians in 2013, and Virat Kohli, then the RCB captain, was his first wicket.
MI re-signed him in 2014 for ₹1.20 crore after a bidding contest with Rajasthan Royals.
What once looked like the game’s strangest bowling action turned into a signature strength, and Bumrah became arguably India’s greatest pacer, a T20 phenomenon and one of the biggest success stories of MI’s scouting network.
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RCB did not lift their first IPL trophy until 2025, spending those 11 seasons with recurring pace issues.
Bumrah, meanwhile, kept collecting silverware and added four more titles after 2013.
Patel’s own ties to MI deepen the story. The former India wicketkeeper went on to work as an MI scout for years, giving him a close view of the franchise’s talent-spotting setup.
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