AB de Villiers breaks Ee Saala Cup Namde promise to Virat Kohli: Not my fault
Legendary cricketer AB de Villiers admitted to uttering the four words he had been explicitly told not to by his good friend and former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate, Virat Kohli. Speaking a day after RCB thrashed Punjab Kings in Mullanpur to reach the Indian Premier League (IPL) final after nine years, De Villiers said he was not to blame and promised he would not repeat those four words again.advertisementFor the uninitiated, De Villiers had revealed earlier in April that Kohli had warned him against saying 'Ee Saala Cup Namde' — a popular catchphrase among RCB supporters, which translates to 'The Cup is ours this year.' The phrase has been widely used over the past few years, even as RCB have repeatedly faltered under pressure, with the title continuing to elude them.Once commonly echoed by RCB players, including Kohli himself, the phrase has come to be seen as something of a jinx. Now, with RCB on the brink of achieving something special, De Villiers expressed his heartfelt wishes for the franchise, praising their impressive performances this season.
'Yeah, it wasn't my fault. The guys are rude over here, man — they're setting traps for me,' De Villiers joked, when host Mayanti Langer asked whether he had, in fact, said the forbidden phrase.advertisementNotably, De Villiers had avoided saying 'Ee Saala Cup Namde' for most of his broadcasting duties on Thursday.'Look, the guys are playing some very good cricket. They know they have to go out there, lay the foundation again, put in the hard yards, and handle the big moments better than whoever they come up against. I'm super excited. I'm confident as well — but that doesn't mean we're going to win,' he added.'So I won't utter those words again.'RCB delivered a clinical performance with the ball after winning the toss and choosing to bowl on a spicy pitch with a thick grass covering. The former finalists bowled Punjab out for just 101 in 14.1 overs, with Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal dismantling the Punjab top and middle order, before Suyash Sharma claimed three wickets to clean up the lower-middle order.While Virat Kohli failed to make an impact with the bat, falling for 14, Phil Salt's explosive 56* off 27 balls ensured RCB chased down the target in just 10 overs, securing their place in the final.Following their win in Qualifier 1, the RCB players kept their celebrations muted, acknowledging that the job was not yet done. Kohli was seen signalling to his wife Anushka Sharma, who was in the stands at Mullanpur, indicating that there was still one more match to go before the celebrations could truly begin.Trending Reel
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