Bengaluru crowd stuns singer Akon with RCB chants ahead of IPL 2026 auction [Watch]

Bengaluru crowd stunned American singer Akon with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) chants ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. Akon performed during his concert in the city on Friday, November 14. The event was part of his 2025 India tour, which also included shows in Delhi and Mumbai.

While he was performing on stage, the Bengaluru crowd began chanting RCB and made Akon take the team's name as well. The singer took some time to get the acronym right, going letter by letter, while the crowd kept chanting and guiding him to get it right.

He eventually managed to catch what the Bengaluru crowd were chanting. The crowd went wild and erupted as he got it right.

"So I am from RCB," he was heard saying.

Watch the video below:

The popular singer was seen in all white attire. He wore a white t-shirt, with white pants and white shoes.

Notably, the Bengaluru-based franchise are the defending champions, having won the IPL 2025 trophy. They lifted the same for the first time by beating the Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs in the final.

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Former India batter on who RCB must release and retain ahead of IPL 2026 auction

All the teams are set to finalise their list of retentions and releases ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. For defending champions RCB, former India batter Suresh Raina outlined who they must hold on to and who they should let go. (via Star Sports)

He reckoned that they must release Liam Livingstone. The English all-rounder was among their costliest buys at ₹8.75 crores ahead of the 2025 season. However, he failed to live up to the expectations. Livingstone managed just 112 runs from eight innings at an average of 16 and a strike-rate of 133.33.

As for the retentions, Raina stated that Bengaluru must hold on to pacers Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, along with batters Phil Salt and Jitesh Sharma. All four players played important roles in their victory last season.

Hazlewood bagged 22 wickets while Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 17, leading their pace attack. Phil Salt scored 403 runs at the top with a strike-rate of 175.98 with four half-centuries. Jitesh carried out a massive role down the order, smashing 261 runs from 11 innings with a strike-rate of 176.35.