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"There Were Poisonous Characters In Delhi Daredevils" AB De Villiers Makes Shocking Claim

Anurag Dasgupta

AB De Villiers on Delhi Daredevils [Source: @hariom7002/x.com]AB De Villiers on Delhi Daredevils [Source: @hariom7002/x.com]

Former South African batter, AB De Villiers has made a shocking claim about Delhi Daredevils (now capitals) as he talked about his initial three-year stint with them.

The legendary batter began his Indian Premier League stint with the Daredevils and was a part of the squad till the 2010 season before he joined the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2011 and became a hero.

De Villiers' startling claim on Delhi's team environment

The Daredevils had a squad full of superstars with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and Glenn McGrath to name a few. De Villiers was a youngster when he joined the side and had an underwhelming first season with the franchise. However, he repaid the faith by having a stellar 2009 season, wherein he also smacked his maiden IPL century.

However, in an interview with Cricket.Com, de Villiers made some stunning revelations about the franchise and also talked about the "poisonous characters" in the team.


“I would hate to give you names. Burning people, you know. But Delhi Daredevils were in shambles. I mean, it was. There were lots of poisonous characters in that side," de Villiers said in an interview with Cricket.Com.

“Lots of legends. So it's such a bittersweet moment for me because I speak… I remember it fondly. And some of the highlights of my life and career was there, spending time with the Glenn McGrath and Daniel Vettori. That's where we got close. But these guys were my heroes and I was so scared of them growing up. So from those highs to also realising that there were some cancerous characters inside and no need to mention names, So it was a very bittersweet three years for me. Also wasn't backed as I would have liked to," he added.

De Villiers disappointed with Daredevils' betrayal

The star batter also expressed his disappointment that the franchise promised to retain him ahead of the 2011 mega auction, but they ditched the plan and released him, showing a lack of respect.

“2009 was nice. I played almost the entire season there in South Africa, came back, I thought I was going to be the man. All of a sudden, not playing again. So it was really mixed feelings. Told I was going to be retained, and in the next minute, I see I'm in the auction. I didn't know what even happened. So weird things happened," he added.

However, the decision to release ABD turned out to be a blessing for the Proteas batter as RCB roped him in and the rest, as they say is history. He became an IPL legend and was one of the key players for RCB for the next 10 years.