Legendary Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) player AB de Villiers has backed the franchise to get on a title-winning spree once they break the wait for their maiden IPL trophy.
RCB have reached the final of the IPL thrice – 2009, 2011, and 2016 – however, on all three occasions they failed to get their hands on the elusive IPL trophy, which has now evaded them for 15 seasons.
Last season, in IPL 2022, riding on a strong wave of a strong bowling attack – for a change their bowling was their stronger suit last time – RCB fell one step away from the final, losing Qualifier 2 to the Rajasthan Royals.
AB de Villiers, who was part of the RCB side for 11 seasons from 2011 to 2021, said that the team needs to “break the shackles”, explaining that T20 format is a fickle one and is quite more dependent on luck and variables than the other two formats.
The South African believes that RCB will get on a roll and win multiple titles once they shatter the jinx of not winning their first trophy yet.
“It’s been how many seasons now? Quite a few, 14 or 15 or whatever. So, they would love to break the shackles. I think if RCB wins this one then, they’ll probably win two, three, four quickly but let’s wait and see what happens, T20 cricket is a bit of a gamble sometimes, anything can happen. Especially knockout games, but hopefully RCB’s turn is around the corner,” said de Villiers in a Star Sports video.
It is no secret who @ABdeVilliers17 will be cheering for this year!#RCB fans, are you ready to chant Ee Sala Cup Namde with him?🤩 pic.twitter.com/sf5fCYJmju
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) November 17, 2022
AB de Villiers was recently in Bangalore to speak with the management regarding the retentions and release of players ahead of the IPL 2023 auction.
AB de Villiers will be part of the RCB management from next season as a consultant or a mentor
Speaking about the IPL 2023 auction, here is the list of the players retained and released by RCB:
Retained: Faf du Plessis (c), Shahbaz Ahmed, Finn Allen, Akash Deep, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Dinesh Karthik, Siddarth Kaul, Virat Kohli, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Harshal Patel, Rajat Patidar, Suyash Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, David Willey
Players released – Jason Behrendorff (traded), Sherfane Rutherford, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Luvnith Sisodia
Purse available: INR 8.75 crore
