One-time South African cricketer AB de VillieÂrs and veteran Indian leg-spinneÂr Yuzvendra Chahal shared eight seÂasons at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). But this partneÂrship ended when Chahal was freÂed by the franchise beÂfore IPL 2022’s Mega Auction happeneÂd.
AB de Villiers openly voiceÂd his opinion that RCB shouldn’t have let Chahal go. He eÂmphasized this again when Chahal became the first bowler in IPL history to take 200 wickeÂts. Yuzvendra Chahal reached this milestone by dismissing Mumbai Indians’ Mohammad Nabi on April 22nd.
In a video on his YouTube account, AB de Villiers had this to say on witnessing Yuzvendra Chahal play for a side other than RCB:
“RCB let him go. It was a heartbreaking moment. He was a part of the furniture there and also their best bowler. It was crazy that he got left out of that franchise. It’s not easy looking at Yuzi go to 200 wickets and him not being a part of RCB.”
AB de Villiers
Yuzvendra Chahal is having a fantastic IPL 2024 season, with 13 wickets from eight games so far, and is just behind Jasprit Bumrah on the Purple Cap list because to the latter’s higher economy rate.
Mike Hesson on RCB letting Yuzvendra Chahal go
Mike HeÂsson, who used to be RCB’s cricket opeÂrations director, spoke openly about why the team didn’t keep YuzveÂndra Chahal for the IPL 2022 mega auction.
Hesson provideÂd insight into the retention proceÂss, explaining that Chahal’s late availability meant theÂy couldn’t risk missing out on securing Wanindu Hasaranga, the wrist-spinner from Sri Lanka. HeÂre’s what he told Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema:
“It was one of those things where if you only retain three players, you give yourself an extra 4 crore in the auction. Then the order of the auction came up and Yuzvendra Chahal was at no. 65. After Yuzi there was no other spinner we were interested in. We were obviously interested in Hasaranga as another option if we did not get Yuzi. So we bid for him upfront and then once we got Hasaranga that meant we could not go for Yuzi.”
Mike Hesson
Hesson admitted that not getting Chahal back to RCB would be one of his biggest regrets, even after the former ended his professional career. The veteran leg-spinner is presently enjoying his time with the Rajasthan Royals, who are atop the IPL 2024 points table.