Former South Africa's legendary cricketer AB de Villiers slammed the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for releasing veteran Indian leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. De Villiers and Chahal spent eight seasons together at the RCB. Chahal was released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. However, the criticism comes after Chahal’s historic milestone of becoming the first bowler to reach 200 IPL wickets. The feat he achieved by dismissing Mumbai Indians’ (MI) Mohammad Nabi in this first over on April 22.
AB De Villiers rues Yuzvendra Chahal's RCB exit
De Villiers has shared the dressing room with Chahal during their stint at RCB and discussed the ‘heartbreaking’ moment when the spinner departed from the franchise. In a recent YouTube video, the South African cricket great reflected on the moment when Chahal was acquired by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) during the IPL auction. The South African cricketer admitted that it was a challenging moment for him as he had formed a close bond with Chahal and had seen him grow as a player.
“Double hundred for Yuzi (Yuzvendra Chahal) with a ball in hand in the IPL. He's the first guy to reach 200 wickets, and the most impressive thing about this (is) it is in 152 innings. RCB let him go… I've mentioned this before: a heartbreaking moment when he left RCB. He was part of the furniture there and also the best bowler. It was crazy that he got left out of that side,” AB de Villiers said in a video on his official YouTube channel.
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Chahal, who was a key member of the RCB squad, forged strong bonds with de Villiers and Virat Kohli, both on and off the field. Despite not being with the franchise for over two seasons, Chahal remains their top wicket-taker. He participated in 113 matches for RCB from 2014 to 2021. During this span, he bagged 139 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.58.
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“It's not easy to watch him go to 200 wickets…the most successful bowler of all time in the IPL, and with him not being at RCB. He's been a huge addition to that RR squad, has done fantastically well for them and part of the success of this season for them” he added.
Chahal’s departure left a notable void in the RCB lineup, evident in their struggles this season. They lost seven out of eight games and currently languish at the bottom of the table.
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