RCB to retire jersey numbers 17 and 333 in honour of AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle

Ahead of the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore have decided to retire the jersey numbers of their former players Ab de Villiers (17) and Chris Gayle (333).

The two iconic cricketers have served the franchise for a long period of time and have brought a lot of success by playing some breathtaking cricket in the cash-rich league. Now, courtesy of their impact and the services that they have rendered to the franchise, the management has also decided to induct them into RCB Hall of Fame.

Notably, the Hall of Fame ceremony will be conducted on March 26 at the RCB Unbox ceremony at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The fans have already started booking their tickets as a houseful show is expected. The team will also release their jersey for the upcoming season at the same very event.

Meanwhile, the franchise on their Twitter account announced the decision of retiring Gayle and de Villiers’ jerseys as a tribute to their time at RCB.

Royal Challengers Bangalore@RCBTweets

Jersey numbers 17 and 333 will be retired forever as a tribute to @ABdeVilliers17 and @henrygayle, when we induct the legends of RCB into the Hall of Fame, at the #RCBUnbox presented by Walkers and Co. #PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB

08:14 PM · Mar 17, 2023

7.7K617

Now, last year when the decision of inducting them to the Hall of Fame came into the limelight, former skipper Virat Kohli shared a special message and thanked them for their enormous contribution to the franchise.

“AB has truly changed the game of cricket with his innovation, brilliance, and sportsmanship which truly defines the RCB Play Bold philosophy. It’s truly special for me to be doing this for both of you. We saw videos of how you have changed the way the IPL has been played over the years. Two people who have had a huge impact in IPL being where it is today; and RCB being where it is today,” Virat said as quoted by News18.

Notably, de Villiers joined Bangalore in 2011 and scored 4491 runs for them in 156 matches. Gayle on the other hand went unsold in the 2011 IPL mega auction but RCB later signed him as the season progressed. In his seven years with the franchise, the southpaw smashed 3163 runs with an individual best of 175* - which is still the highest score by a player in IPL history.

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