You have to be a special player to make it to the Indian team: AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers was one of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s key performers ever since he first made his presence felt for the franchise in 2011 where they had qualified for their second IPL final losing to the southern rivals Chennai Super Kings. Even though RCB could not go all the way in that edition, ABD continued to give his best for the next decade.

The former South African batter showed up for the three-time finalists when it mattered the most as he played match-winning knocks in some playoff games with the best of them all being an unbeaten 79 against the now-defunct Gujarat Lions in the Qualifier 1 of the IPL 2016 when Bangalore were reduced to 29/5 chasing 159.’Mr.360′ bid adieu to all forms of the game and has made himself unavailable for IPL 2022 mega auction as a player. Meanwhile, the innovative batter has explained that the franchise was like a family to him during a recent interaction.

RCB to me is family: AB de Villiers

“RCB to me is family. I mean it has been a life-changing 10-11 years to me. Like any other family, there are ups and downs. There are beautiful, they’re amazing rides, there’s a bit of everything. There are good relationships and then there are those which go sour and that is all part of the fun. I look back with no regrets. I think back on my career at RCB as the most amazing years of my life. I have had the privilege of experiencing IPL Cricket, the Indian crowd, and the Indian way of doing things for the last 15 years”, said ABD while speaking on The RCB Podcast.

At the same time, the versatile cricketer also went on to say that he possibly would have never played for India had he been born in the country. Giving further clarification on the same, the Proteas icon said that one needs to be a special player in order to make it to the Indian team.

“Obviously growing up in India would have been interesting. Maybe I would have never played for India, who knows. It is tough to make it to the Indian team; you have to be a special player”, he said.

The former star cricketer seemed to be in good form during the first leg of IPL 2021 which was indefinitely postponed due to a surge in the COVID-19 cases in the country. However, he looked out of touch in the second leg that was played in the UAE. ABD finished the season with 313 runs from 15 games as RCB were knocked out in the Eliminator.