AB De Villiers will go down as one of the greatest players to play for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL; however, before joining the RCB, he played a few seasons for Delhi Daredevils. De Villiers was part of the Delhi franchise from 2008-2010 and played 28 games, where he scored 671 runs, including a century and three fifties.

De Villiers opened up on his stint with the Delhi Daredevils and said that the franchise was in shambles despite having many great players like Glenn McGrath and Daniel Vettori. The veteran highlighted the highs and lows of his career with the Daredevils and said that sharing the dressing room with legends was wonderful, but the poisonous characters inside made the environment chaotic.

“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,” the 41-year-old told 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 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.

“Like McGrath. I mean, I played against him in 2006 in a Test match and I could hardly breathe, literally, and never spoke a word to him. And then in the next minute, I'm sitting here in 2008 and he sits next to me and goes, I like the way you play. I'm like, what's going on there?

“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.

De Villiers said that he had a decent season in 2009 and was told by the Delhi Daredevils that he would be retained, but he found himself in the auction soon. De Villiers joined RCB in 2011, and everything changed for good. He became the face of the franchise along with Virat Kohli and spent his entire career with RCB. De Villiers ended as RCB's second leading run scorer, with 4491 runs, at an average of 41.2, and a strike rate of 158.6, including 37 fifties and two centuries in 156 matches.

“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,” de Villiers said.

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