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Former Royal Challengers Bangalore players AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle have become the first members of the franchise's Hall of Fame. Both the players played several instrumental knocks for the franchise and made immense contributions to the league at large. The event was organised on Monday evening, where both the legends of the game joined their former teammates via video conferencing.
RCB's Director of Cricket Mike Hesson gave an inductee speech before presenting beautiful gold-plated mementos to the legendary cricketers bearing their names and jersey numbers. In his speech, former RCB captain and franchise vetran Virat Kohli recalled how he spent some great days with these players which he will cherish forever.
Check out the video below:
Kohli mentioned how Gayle was roped in as a replacement player but stamped his authority with a couple of hundreds in the first season. Kohli also remembered Gayle's unbeaten 175 against Pune Warriors India and claimed his record would never be broken. In response, Gayle thanked Kohli for his kind words and wished the ongoing season to be RCBs. He said, "I want to thank the fraternity, the RCB franchise, for everything. It has been special to me as well. To be inducted into something fantastic. I will always keep RCB close to my heart. I have shared some memories with some special players and some special coaches."
Meanwhile, AB de Villiers got a little emotional and confessed that Sun has set on both the former RCB players, but they still believe they are part of the family. He said, "Virat, thanks for the kind words and everyone from the franchise who set this up; this is a special touch. We had an amazing time together as a team. Sun has moved on for Chris and me, but we are very much part of the family." AB de Villiers played his final IPL campaign last year in the UAE, where RCB finished fourth and faced defeat in the Eliminator.
The Proteas ace scored 4491 runs for the franchise in 156 matches after being involved for 11 seasons. On the other hand, Gayle has appeared in 142 matches and scored 4965 runs at a 39.72 average. In the IPL, he has six centuries and 31 half-centuries. The explosive left-handed batter finished his seven-year stint with the three-time finalists in 2018 and went on to represent the Punjab franchise.