After 13 years, AB de Villiers reveals Delhi Daredevils lied to him before releasing him

AB de Villiers hitting a shot during Indian Premier League 2009 edition (File Photo: Getty Images)
AB de Villiers hitting a shot during Indian Premier League 2009 edition (File Photo: Getty Images)

Highlights:

AB de Villiers played three seasons for the Delhi franchise.

De Villiers played 11 seasons for RCB.

An Indian Premier League (IPL) legend, AB de Villiers had a long stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). But before representing RCB, De Villiers played for three seasons for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals). More than a couple of years after retiring from IPL, De Villiers on his YouTube channel that in a team meeting which was attended by Australian opener David Warner, the Proteas batter was assured that he would be retained but the franchise ended up releasing him before the auction for 2011 season.
 

"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,” the former South Africa captain said. 
 

"So the communication wasn’t great back in the day, that must be different these days but it’s not a nice feeling.”

 

Follow the Sports Tak channel on WhatsApp
 

A young De Villiers was unsure of his IPL future as he had played just seven matches in the 2010 edition. 
 

"You’re unsure of your career, at that time in 2010 I think I only played five (seven) 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, and it changed my life forever, so great memories with regards to that.
 

"I was so nervous. Then I got the news from Twitter that I was picked by RCB and the next moment Virat (Kohli) called."
 

However, he ended up getting picked for Rs 5 crore by RCB. He played for RCB for 11 seasons and formed formidable partnerships with skipper Virat Kohli. He is the second-highest overseas run-scorer in IPL history.
 

De Villiers also had a word of advice for all released players ahead of the mini-auction.
 

"For all the released players, it's not the end of the road, keep a close eye on the auction. But if you're not picked up, it gives an opportunity to go back to the drawing board and work even harder," he added.
 

MORE ON SPORTS TAK

Gautam Gambhir comes up with unique suggestion to make ODI cricket more interesting, says ' in the 1st 10 overs...'

'It'll be madness if India don't pick Rohit, Kohli for T20 World Cup': Andre Russell's big statement creates stir