AB De Villiers Breaks Big RCB-Related Promise Made To Virat Kohli, Says "It Wasn't My Fault"
On the note of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) making their way to the IPL 2025 final, one of their former cricketers, AB de Villiers, has revealed that he ended up breaking a promise he had made to Virat Kohli. De Villiers revealed that he had said the catchphrase "Ee Saala Cup Namde" (This year, the cup will be ours) despite promising to Kohli that he would not utter it during the season. The phrase has become a part of RCB folklore given the team's inability to win the title over the years.
On Thursday, RCB comprehensively beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 to enter the IPL 2025 final. De Villiers revealed that he had accidentally said the catchphrase, and even reiterated that it wasn't his own fault.
"Yeah, it wasn't my fault. The guys are rude over here, man. They're setting traps for me," said de Villiers, speaking on Star Sports.
De Villiers had seemingly promised to his former teammate Kohli that he wouldn't utter the phrase "Ee Saala Cup Namde" during the 2025 season.
Kohli and de Villiers shared the RCB dressing room for 11 years, during which RCB lost the final on two occasions. Notably, they lost the final in 2016, narrowly to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
RCB have achieved success in IPL 2025 under the coaching of Andy Flower, following a good auction.
Mo Bobat, Director of Cricket at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), said nailing the side's actual shape, based on the vision the think-tank had envisaged during last year's auction, has been the most rewarding aspect of the IPL 2025 season.
"Nobody gets everything they want at an auction. It's pretty much impossible. But I think we got predominantly what we wanted in terms of playing personnel. But more importantly, with the actual shape of the team and the vision of that team that Andy and I spent so much time thinking about and talking about, we pretty much nailed that."
"And that's probably been the satisfying thing this season - that you get to see that come to life on the field," said Bobat in a video posted by the franchise on their YouTube channel on Saturday.
Apart from various players stepping up to do the job for making RCB win, Bobat shared head coach Andy Flower's changed approach has also been helpful, especially with a new skipper in Rajat Patidar at the helm.
"I've really enjoyed watching Andy head coach slightly differently this year to how he did last year. The team has changed and the captain has changed. Essentially, we share the principle that we would like our players to walk onto the field and make their own decisions. And to do that, you've got to create a decision-rich environment on and off the field."
"For Andy and I, creating a sort of environment where people feel safe, where they feel backed, where they feel like they're accountable for their own decisions, and where they're able to hopefully showcase their strengths - that's the key bit."
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