Picture Credit: X

Picture Credit: X

The South African legend AB de Villiers was recently inducted in Hall of Fame with Chris Gayle by RCB earlier this year. The South African great has always shared a deep bond with this IPL franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore and has good understanding with players like Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis. 

RCB had recently appointed a new coach in Andy Flower, replacing Mike Hesson and there have been rumors also going on that AB de Villiers could become mentor of the franchise considering his contribution and relationship with the Bengaluru-based franchise. AB de Villiers was an integral part of RCB from 2011-2021 and when he decided to retire earlier, he shook the entire cricketing fraternity by doing so.

AB de Villiers, however, has denied all these reports and rumors when asked, stating that "he won't be returning for RCB in IPL 2024 and he won't be associated in any capacity with any of the IPL franchise" but, he hasn't ruled out the possibility of taking any role at franchise in future.

AB de Villiers interestingly was mentor of RCB in IPL 2022 and his presence helped them to perform really well as they ended up in Eliminator stage of IPL.

AB de Villiers has scored 4491 runs for RCB from 144 innings at an impressive strike rate of 158.64, with an average of 41.2 in 11 different editions of the tournament from 2011.