IPL 2023: AB De Villiers wants to give his retired no.17 jersey to ‘The Pata Man’ of RCB

The former Royal Challengers' (RCB) explosive batter AB De Villiers has admitted that if he had to give his retired no.17 jersey to anyone, he would happily hand it to team's star batter Rajat Patidar. Patidar, who has been nick named as ‘The Pata Man’ by former South Africa skipper, rose to fame after cracking a splendid century for RCB in IPL 2022's Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in which he scored an unbeaten 112 for a winning cause. 

But unfortunately, RCB suffered a big jolt ahead of the sixteenth season of the IPL as Patidar was ruled out of the whole season as he failed to recover from a heel injury which he picked in RCB's pre season camp. However, he was replaced by Vysakh Vijaykumar for IPL 2023. 

RCB's legend believes that Patidar has an immense potential and can go on to become a stalwart for the Bangalore-based franchise in the future.

In a conversation with Sportskeeda, the 39-year-old has said that he would give his no.17 jersey to the 29-year-old RCB star.  

"That's a tough question. Maybe Rajat Patidar. The Pata Man. I gave him that nickname. He looks good. He will be a stalwart for RCB in the future. I want to give it to a youngster, maybe Rajat," De Villiers said.

De Villiers also had his say on Faf Du Plessis' captaincy for the RCB. The 39-year-old believed his former Proteas' teammate would be the perfect fit for the team and would bring home title for the franchise. De Villiers also revealed how happy Du Plessis in RCB's camp.

"Always. I knew it was going to happen (Du Plessis to RCB). Faf is the perfect fit. I think he is going to bring us a trophy. I think he is very happy. When he arrived here, he realized why I have always been so happy over the years," he added.

RCB lost their last match against Chennai Super Kings couple of days back and they will next face Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 20.  

ALSO READ:

Harbhajan draws parallel between Dhoni and THIS IPL star ahead of RR vs LSG clash, bats for Team India's inclusion
'He didn't let his ego come in the way': Sachin Tendulkar lauds MI's star all-rounder's heroics in win against SRH