T20 greats AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle were inducted into RCB Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) inducted T20 greats AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle into their introductory Hall of Fame on Tuesday for their services to the franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The West Indies stalwart had featured for RCB from 2011 to 2017 and played quite a few match-winning knocks with his impressive 175 runs innings standing out while the former South Africa captain was an integral part of the franchise from 2011 to 2021 and was a major contributor.
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On the eve of their induction, former RCB captain Virat Kohli who has led the two men on the field and has shared a great camaraderie with them shared some of his fond memories with AB de Villiers. “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 of me to be doing this for both of you,” Kohli told royalchallengers.com.
“We saw videos of how you have changed the way the IPL has been played over the years. Two people have had a huge impact in IPL team where it is today and obviously RCB being where it is today. With AB, I have played for 11 years and with Chris I have played for 7 and both the journeys started in 2011, which for me was always going to be a very special year because I met both of you and started playing with both of you”, added Kohli, talking about the start of the special kinship.
Kohli also shared his fond memories of the ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle who was roped in by the franchise in 2011 as a replacement of fast bowler Dirk Nannes. “With Chris, 2011 was always going to be a very special memory for me. Chris came in after four games from nowhere. He was sitting in Jamaica, chilling. The boss called him. Not many people know, Chris was a replacement for Dirk Nannes. Came in, got two hundreds that year and seven fifty plus scores in whatever game we played that year.”
“The other one is going to be the 175 not out, a record that is never going to be broken and we all witnessed that. I have been fortunate to witness the brilliance of these two guys, playing so many years for RCB. Its truly an honour for me to be standing here in the induction of two good friends and people who would surely want to see more in RCB in whatever capacity that is.”
