South African RCB legend AB de Villiers has admitted that it wasn’t easy for him to see Yuzvendra Chahal take his 200th IPL wicket while playing for Rajasthan Royals.
AB de Villiers, who spent more than five seasons with Yuzvendra Chahal RCB Locker Room, also criticized the franchise for letting the latter go. Since then, the South Indian franchise has been struggling to find a suitable replacement for the leg-spinner, who currently tops the list of highest wicket-takers in IPL 2024.
Yuzvendra Chahal: A top-class bowler in IPL
Yuzvendra Chahal, along with Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah, is the joint player with the most wickets in IPL 2024 after completing 40 matches. All three have taken 13 wickets each in 8 matches, with Patel having the worst economy rate at 9.58, while Bumrah and Chahal have 6.37 and 8.83.
The leg-spinner, who is Bengaluru’s top bowler in terms of most wickets, recently picked up his 200th IPL scalp in Rajasthan’s away match against Mumbai. Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Afghan Mohammad Nabi to achieve the incredible feat that has never been achieved before.
This has neither been done yet nor will it happen in the foreseeable future. The closest to his record is Dwayne Bravo, who retired from IPL a long time ago. Among active participants, only Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sunil Narine and Jasprit Bumrah have a chance of taking 200 wickets.
However, it is also possible that by the time another bowler completed 200 wickets, Yuzi Chahal would have increased his tally to 250 wickets. The 33-year-old is one of the key players behind Rajasthan’s place at the top of the points table with 14 points from 8 games. The Royals have suffered just one defeat so far and are just two wins away from qualifying for the play-offs.
What did AB de Villiers say about Chahal?
In his latest YouTube video, AB de Villiers had nothing but praise for Yuzvendra Chahal. The former South Africa captain praised Chahal for completing 200 IPL wickets and also praised him for the number of innings it took him to achieve this feat.
AB de Villiers then criticized RCB for the mistake of letting Chahal go ahead of the 2022 mega IPL auction. The former Mr. 360 degree batter called the Bengaluru management crazy and admitted that Chahal was the team’s best bowler during his time with the franchise.
“Double hundred for Yuzi (Yuzvendra Chahal) with a ball in hand in the IPL. He is the first player to reach 200 wickets and the most impressive thing is that he completed 152 innings. RCB let him go… I’ “I’ve mentioned this before: a heartbreaking moment when he left RCB. He was part of the furniture there and also the best bowler,” said AB de Villiers in his latest YT video.
“It is not easy to watch him reach 200 wickets… the most successful bowler of all time in the IPL and since he is not with RCB. He was a great asset to the RR team, did fantastic performances for them and was a part of it.” “It’s the success of this season for them,” he added