"What an incredible atmosphere": AB de Villiers attends RCB's IPL 2023 campaign opener against MI
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 2 (ANI): Legendary South Africa batter AB de Villiers attended Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)'s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 campaign opener against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the franchise's home arena of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday.
de Villiers, who represented the RCB franchise for a decade, took to Instagram to share a picture of him attending the match.
"Quiet before the storm! RCB vs MI. What an incredible atmosphere," said de Villiers' Instagram post caption.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CqiTb97JaBc/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
De Villiers made a return to Bengaluru last Sunday to be a part of the 'RCB Unbox event, where he was inducted into the franchise's Hall of Fame along with long-time teammate Chris Gayle. The jerseys of both IPL stars were retired. Gayle and de Villiers also had a 'lap of honour' at RCB's home arena, M Chinnaswamy Stadium in front of thousands of fans.
de Villiers represented the side from 2011-2021 in 157 matches. He scored 4,522 runs at an average of 41.10. He scored two centuries and 37 fifties for the side at a strike rate of over 158.
Coming to the match, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Faf Du Plessis won the toss against Mumbai Indians (MI) and opted to field first in their Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign opener at the home arena of M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Both sides will start their IPL 2023 campaign with this match. RCB named Faf, Michael Bracewell, Glenn Maxwell and Reece Topley as their four overseas players while Rohit Sharma led MI named Tim David, Cameron Green, Jofra Archer and Jason Behrendorff as their overseas players. In all, Bracewell, Topley and Green will be making their IPL debuts.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj.
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jofra Archer, Arshad Khan. (ANI)