“He is not your future” – Gautam Gambhir lists three retentions for RCB in IPL 2022; leaves out AB de Villiers


“He is not your future” – Gautam Gambhir lists three retentions for RCB in IPL 2022; leaves out AB de Villiers

Gautam Gambhir

Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has named his three picks for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to retain ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 mega auction. 

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According to him, the Bangalore-based franchise must keep hold of the trio of Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell. Surprisingly, he missed out on one of the greatest players in the history of RCB – AB de Villiers.

In an ESPNCricinfo show called ‘Haan ya Na’ (Yes or No), Gambhir went for Chahal between the leg-spinner and this year’s Purple Cap holder Harshal Patel.

“Yes, I would just want to add that between Harshal Patel and Chahal, one can be picked. So, it’s up to them whether they want to pick either Chahal or Harshal.”

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The Challengers’ most successful player in IPL 2021 – Glenn Maxwell was also there in the southpaw’s list of three players. He stated that the Aussie all-rounder is the future of the franchise and not ABD.

Gambhir said: “Yes, because I think they will retain Glenn Maxwell since he is the future, and AB de Villiers is not.”

“I guess the timing wasn’t right” – Gambhir on stepping down as RCB skipper

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli

Earlier, the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain had reckoned that the timing of Kohli’s decision of leaving RCB’s leadership role wasn’t on point. He signed off while saying that his call mid-way during the UAE leg of IPL 2021 could have distracted the players from performing at their best. 

“I guess the timing wasn’t right. If he had to quit as captain, he could have done that even after the tournament. He was in this situation, where it wasn’t like RCB was not in a position to qualify. They were pretty much in so I believe that had he resigned after the tournament, it would have been better,” he added.

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Also Read | “Why would you want to retain AB de Villiers if he is not scoring runs” – Brian Lara feels RCB must release ABD ahead of IPL 2022

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