AB de Villiers on RCB jersey retirement: 'I have a deep connection with this country and its people’

AB de Villiers on Tuesday thanked Bengaluru and Royal Challengers Bangalore after the IPL team retired his jersey in a star-studded affair at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday.

The South African spent a decade at RCB scoring more than 4000 runs and delighting fans with some astonishing knocks along the way.

In a ceremony held at the Chinnaswamy stadium, De Villiers and West Indies legend Chris Gayle were honoured by the franchise who also retired their jersey numbers, De Villiers’s no 17 and Gayle’s no 333.

I don’t know where to start really..

So March 26th 2023 Chris and I were inducted into the RCB hall of fame and our jersey numbers retired forever. My heart blossomed as my wife, two boys and little girl walked up the stairs to enter our RCB den, stairs that I have walked up so many times with butterflies fluttering in my stomach. It felt weird to walk up there in a different state of mind.

Tears filled my eyes when I stepped on to the balcony of our dressing room at...

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