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'RCB may not retain AB de Villiers for IPL 2022' : Gautam Gambhir

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) suffered yet another heartbreak in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they failed to advance through to the finals.

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AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers ( Image Credit: BCCI/IPL)

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) suffered yet another heartbreak in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they failed to advance through to the finals after losing to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator. This season, the team looked good throughout the league stage with brilliant performances from Glenn Maxwell, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Harshal Patel. However, other players, especially the batters blew hot and cold.

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Barring Maxwell, who scored a stupendous 513 runs in 15 games, the rest of the batters didn't show the consistency the team would have expected. RCB’s star player AB de Villiers strangely looked off-colour in the UAE leg. Since 2011, the former South African batter has been one of the consistent batters for RCB, scoring over 300 runs in each season. This year also De Villiers started well but lost steam as the tournament progressed. In the UAE leg, he managed to go past the 20s only on two occasions.

Cricketer-turned-expert Gautam Gambhir feels with the mega auctions coming up in 2022, RCB may not retain De Villiers in the team, adding that the management will be keen to go with Maxwell.

"Yes, because I think they will retain Glenn Maxwell since he is the future, and AB de Villiers is not," said Gambhir according to India Today, when asked if he feels RCB may choose not to retain De Villiers this season.

Gambhir opined that RCB might choose to retain Virat Kohli and Chahal in the team along with Maxwell. The leg-spinner had a decent run in this year’s IPL and picked 18 wickets in 15 games. On the other hand, Kohli was not at his fluent best but still managed to score 405 runs at an average of 29.93.

Cricket News IPL 2023 AB de Villiers Royal Challengers Bangalore