"On the moon there will be someone that goes 'RCB'" - Former DC cricketer's stunning claim on 2025 IPL winners

Former Delhi Capitals (DC) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Wayne Parnell picked RCB's fan base in the IPL as the best in the world. The franchise finally broke their trophy drought by winning their maiden title in the 2025 season.

Parnell played for RCB in IPL 2023, picking up nine wickets in seven games. Despite qualifying for the final thrice in the first 17 seasons, the franchise could not get over the hump.

Yet, the noise at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the fan support for the team remained unwavering.

Talking about the RCB fanbase in an interview with Cricket.com, Parnell said (13:16):

"I played for RCB three seasons back and to this day, even after leaving RCB, everywhere I have been in the world, I get stopped and people talk to me about RCB. That's one of the fanbases I've seen literally anywhere. 2. I can probably go to the moon and there'll be someone there that goes, 'RCB'. Throughout my whole career, that's been the best fan base and the most passionate. And it was great to see them win it last season."

The South African pacer also spoke glowingly about the RCB ownership, saying:

"With RCB, because it's not owned by people who are cricket people, and they have people in place to run the whole cricket operations and a director of cricket, the owners, while they wanted to win, but it was more like, 'Hey, how are you doing?, how are you enjoying the environment?', that's the kind of conversation I had when I was with them."

RCB finished second on the IPL 2025 points table under first-time captain Rajat Patidar, before crushing the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 and the grand finale.

"It's a team like Real Madrid and Manchester United in footballing terms" - Wayne Parnell on MI

MI were the IPL's most dominant franchise in the 2010s [Credit: Getty]

Wayne Parnell picked the Mumbai Indians (MI) as the franchise he most wanted to play for in T20 cricket, thanks to their incredible system. MI are the joint-most successful IPL franchise with five titles.

"It just looks like a really well run franchise (MI). Obviously within the franchise, it'll be a high pressure environment but it just looks like a franchise where you can really go in and make a difference and be backed by owners, who also understand because of their experience in this cricket space. It's a team like Real Madrid and Manchester United in footballing terms," said Parnell (via the aforementioned source).

He added:

"As a player, you want to be associated with them because you know it's a big organization. MI was definitely the team every guy wanted to play for. It was looked at as the Real Madrid of the IPL."

Parnell also felt he could have benefited from playing for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) under MS Dhoni.

"But from a cricketing point of view, maybe CSK. If I played under MS Dhoni, I think would have learnt a lot as well. MI and CSK would be the two most cricketers would want to play for," he said.

Like MI, CSK are five-time IPL winners and won back-to-back titles for the first time in IPL history in 2010 and 2011, under Dhoni.