‘Lot of ‘poisonous characters' in that team': AB de Villiers recalls ‘bittersweet' Delhi Daredevils IPL stint
South Africa legend AB de Villiers has had an enjoyable fortnight cheering on his country and his favoured IPL franchise ending their long title droughts. While the Proteas downed Australia to lift the ICC World Test Championship mace at Lord's, de Villiers was in attendance at the home of cricket, 11 days after he was present during the IPL 2025 final when his former team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, won their first title in 17 years.
However, in a recent interview, the former South Africa captain recounted a few unpleasant memories from back in time, during his first three IPL seasons with the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals).
de Villiers recalled the toxicity of the environment that left him with bittersweet memories even as he shared the dressing room with some of his childhood heroes.
'I'd hate to give you names-burning people, you know-but the Delhi Daredevils were in shambles. There were a lot of poisonous characters in that team,' he told cricket.com.
'There were lots of legends, which makes it a bittersweet memory for me. I still remember those times fondly. Some of the highlights of my life and career came during that stint-especially spending time with guys like Glenn McGrath and Daniel Vettori. These were my heroes growing up, and I was honestly a bit scared of them,' de Villiers added.
While the 41-year-old enjoyed the 2009 season in South Africa, playing all 15 games for 465 runs, including a century, de Villiers only tallied 13 games in total from 2008 and 2010.
'2009 was nice. I played almost the entire season in South Africa, came back, and I thought I was going to be the man. Then, all of a sudden, I wasn't playing again,' he recalled.
'It was mixed feelings. I was told I would be retained, and then the next minute, I saw myself in the auction. I didn't even know what had happened. So many weird things went on.'
de Villiers was later roped in by RCB during the 2011 auction and would emerge as one of their greatest batting superstars alongside Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle. Aggregating 4511 runs in 145 innings, de Villiers remains as RCB's second-highest run-getter, behind Kohli.
'The day I walked into RCB, I felt like they wanted me to play every game. I was so surprised. They just went, 'You're the man. You're going to grow here. You're going to become a great player with us-you're part of the family.' Done and dusted.'
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