The 38-year-old, who played for Royal Challengers Bangalore, had announced his retirement from the cash-rich tournament in November last year. However, Virat Kohli dropped a major hint on de Villiers earlier this month and said that he would be reuniting with the Bangalore-based franchise.
De Villiers had been a big part of RCB family before he retired from all forms of cricket last year.De Villiers’ former skipper and teammate Virat Kohli had earlier this month said that he was hopeful the South African great will be back at the RCB in a new role next year.“I am glad to hear Virat confirmed it.
To be honest, we haven’t decided on anything yet. I will definitely be around IPL next year. I am not sure in what capacity but I am missing getting back there,” De Villiers .
Legendary South Africa cricketer AB De Villiers confirmed that he will return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year and join the Royal Challengers Bangalore set-up. de Villiers, however, did not give many details about his role but it is more or less confirmed that he won't return to RCB as a player. He could join the team as a consultant or a mentor before the start of IPL 2023. Interestingly, former RCB captain Virat Kohli, in a conversation with Danish Sait, had hinted that de Villiers is likely to join the RCB team next year.
“I have a heard a little bird tweeting, saying that there might be some games in Bangalore. So I would love to return to my second hometown and watch the full capacity stadium there at the Chinnaswamy again. I would love to return, I am looking forward to it.” he added De Villiers, who joined RCB in 2011, played a crucial role for the franchise. He, alongwith Kohli, won a lot of games for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The franchise, earlier this month, inducted de Villiers and West Indies legend Chris Gayle into their Hall of Fame.
“I miss him a lot. I speak to him regularly, quite regularly. He keeps messaging me. He was in the US recently watching golf. Augusta Masters is what I heard it was called. So he told me he was there experiencing it with his friends and family. So we stay in touch and he’s very keenly watching RCB and hopefully will be here next year in some capacity,” Kohli had told Danish Sait earlier.
AB de Villiers began his IPL career with the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), where he spent three seasons before joining0 RCB in 2011. He spent 11 seasons with the RCB and had helped them make it to the playoffs five times. He also helped RCB qualify for the IPL final twice. The 38-year old is the second all-time leading run-scorer for the franchise . He was recently inducted into the RCB Hall of Fame. de Villiers also holds the record for the second and third-highest individual score for RCB with 133* against Mumbai Indians (in 2015) and 129* against Gujarat Lions (in 2016).
De Villiers has scored 4522 runs, including three hundreds and 40 fifties, at an average of 39.71 for RCB
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