‘He is an emotion for RCB’ – Fans react as AB de Villiers says selection in RCB changed his life

The South African legendary attacking batsman AB de Villiers recently talked about the pleasure of playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL and how it changed his life.   On his YouTube channel de Villiers talked about how he was promised retention by the IPL team franchise Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2011 but was released two weeks later without any further communication. 

AB de Villiers was picked by RCB in the 2011 IPL option for five crore and he represented the team till he officially announced his retirement. He expressed his gratitude towards the team management and also discussed what could be done for the betterment of the purse value of the team ahead of the IPL 2024 auction on 19th December. 

On his YouTube channel AB de Villiers said, “When I played in the 2010 season, I got called into the office and was told ‘You are going to get retained, young AB de Villiers’. I sat alongside David Warner in that meeting. It came as a huge surprise to me a week or two later when I realised I had been released. So the communication wasn’t great back in the day, that must be different these days but it’s not a nice feeling,”

AB de Villiers on getting picked by RCB in the IPL auction and playing for the team 

“You’re unsure of your career, at that time in 2010 I think I only played five games in that IPL season so a lot of doubts crept up in my mind. But I did have a very good international season. I kept playing good cricket and luckily for me the auction happened and I got picked up by RCB. That changed my life forever, so great memories with regards to that,” de Villiers said. 

Further while talking about RCB’s retention and retained players list, he said, “RCB paid a lump sum for them (Harshal and Hasaranga) and releasing them will free up the purse. This is where the scouting will come in and the pool of players they are looking at. They might also go back into the auction and buy both of them, but it can also backfire. Mr. Flower seems to have some plans up his sleeve and this seems one of them.”

“I would love that (Brevis to RCB). I think the Chinnaswamy pitch will suit him to the T. I don’t know whether Mumbai will release him because I know they have roped in a number of young players looking long-term. So it wouldn’t make sense for them to release them because they will be a part of their dream team in few years’ time,” de Villiers added.

Look how the fans reacted – 

He is emotion of every RCB fan pic.twitter.com/7DY4T6i5yR

— Indian sport action (@sportszone_17) November 30, 2023

AB's IPL impact recognized

— Andreas (@itzsanwal01) November 30, 2023

Mitchell Starc, Ab de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Faf du Plessis. There four overseas picks really changed the game of RCB and IPL fans supported this team alot.

— Sports syncs (@moiz_sports) November 30, 2023

He always say these type of things for RCB but never to south Africa

— Kirkett (@bhaskar_sanu08) November 30, 2023

He was a complete batsman. Elegance in his batting was superb. 👌

— Vikramaditya Jain (@quirky_vk) November 30, 2023

RCB blood

— мυѕѕαωαя вυтт (@IsHQ_QaTil) November 30, 2023

https://twitter.com/miss_nazuk/status/1730139840241610795?s=46

https://twitter.com/miss_nazuk/status/1730139719374373122?s=46

AB what a great player

— мυѕѕαωαя вυтт (@IsHQ_QaTil) November 30, 2023