The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) honoured AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle in a special RCB Unbox event on Sunday (March 26), where the franchise inducted the legendary duo into the ‘RCB Hall of Fame’ and retired their jersey numbers (17 and 333) as a mark of respect.
The event took place at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, which is also the home ground of the RCB. The fans graced the ceremony in large numbers, as it was after a gap of three years that the Bangalore-based team returned to the home venue.
De Villiers delighted the Bengaluru crowd during the event by saying the iconic ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde’ line as he addressed fans at the jam-packed Chinnaswamy Stadium. The video of the same soon went viral on social media, and love poured in for the RCB veteran on the internet.
Here’s the video:
Ee Sala Cup Namde😌#ನಮ್ಮRCB #PlayBold pic.twitter.com/T7tMMnB742
— Hasanmuki (@haage_sumane) March 26, 2023
India’s modern-day legend Virat Kohli also shared the stage with De Villiers and was seen having a giggle while the latter spoke in Kannada. The phrase ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde’ that the veteran South Arica cricketer said translates to: ‘This year the cup will be ours.’ The line has been associated with the RCB franchise for over the years and is often used by fans to show their support for the club.
Notably, De Villiers began his Indian Premier League (IPL) career in 2008 with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and later joined RCB in 2011. The right-handed batter ever since has been part of the Bangalore-based franchise and scored nearly 5000 runs for the team at a strike rate of 158.63 in 11 IPL seasons.
The star-studded team of RCB will be led by Faf du Plessis in the IPL 2023 that starts on March 31 and will begin their campaign against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 2.
