Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers, popularly known as Mr.360, has arrived in Bengaluru and joined his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
When ABD announced his retirement from all formats of cricket in November 2021, the news hit RCB supporters very hard. He has been one of the star performers for the Bengaluru-based team since 2011.
De Villiers played many eye-catching innings for RCB, even picking up an award for the most power-packed knock in IPL 2012 IPL for his assault on the Proteas speedster Dale Steyn. With ex-skipper Virat Kohli, AB added five 100+ partnerships and two 200+ run stands, the only pair in the world to post two such partnerships. He made 687 runs in IPL 2016, finishing third on the runs chart.
Last year in October, De Villiers promised to make a comeback in the RCB dugout in some other role. Speculations of his reunion with the franchise got new air after he arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday.
“Ladies & Gentlemen, the superhuman is here and he is telling you why. Welcome home, AB de Villiers,” RCB captioned their post while sharing a video of De Villiers’ ride to the hotel from the airport.
Ladies & Gentlemen, the super human is here and he’s telling you why. Welcome home, @ABdeVilliers17 ❤️#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/3FgCxYGd3f
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) November 3, 2022
As per several reports, De Villiers will be the mentor for the Faf du Plessis-led side in the upcoming season of IPL, and that’s why he has joined the team’s backroom staff. He will have a discussion with the franchise about players’ retention and prepare for the mini-auction in December.
It is expected that RCB will retain a maximum of 15 players ahead of the auction and have some valuable picks in the bidding process. Under Du Plessis’ captaincy, RCB finished at the third position in IPL 2022. They would look to perform better in the next season and even hope to claim their maiden IPL title.
