One-time South African cricketer AB de Villiers and veteran Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal shared eight seasons at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). But this partnership ended when Chahal was freed by the franchise before IPL 2022’s Mega Auction happened.
AB de Villiers openly voiced his opinion that RCB shouldn’t have let Chahal go. He emphasized this again when Chahal became the first bowler in IPL history to take 200 wickets. 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 Hesson, who used to be RCB’s cricket operations director, spoke openly about why the team didn’t keep Yuzvendra Chahal for the IPL 2022 mega auction.
Hesson provided insight into the retention process, explaining that Chahal’s late availability meant they couldn’t risk missing out on securing Wanindu Hasaranga, the wrist-spinner from Sri Lanka. Here’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.