On Sunday (March 26), the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) celebrated AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle’s contributions to the franchise at a special RCB Unbox event. During the ceremony, the legendary duo was inducted into the ‘RCB Hall of Fame,’ and their jersey numbers (17 and 333) were retired in their honour.
The event was held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, which is also the RCB’s home ground. A large number of fans attended the ceremony, as it marked the team’s return to the venue after a three-year hiatus.
During the event at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, De Villiers thrilled the crowd by delivering the iconic phrase “Ee Sala Cup Namde,” which means “This year, the cup is ours,” to address fans. A video of the moment quickly spread across social media, and fans showered love for the RCB veteran on the internet.
Virat Kohli, the modern-day legend of Indian cricket, shared the stage with AB de Villiers during the RCB Unbox event. Kohli was seen having a laugh while De Villiers spoke in Kannada. During the event, De Villiers pleased the Bengaluru crowd by using the iconic phrase ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde’.
The phrase translates to ‘This year the cup will be ours’ and is closely associated with the RCB franchise. It has been used by fans over the years to show their support for the team. The video of De Villiers saying the phrase went viral on social media, and he received a lot of love from RCB supporters.
AB de Villiers has a long association with the Indian Premier League (IPL), starting with the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2008 and joining the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2011. The right-handed batsman has since played 11 IPL seasons for RCB, amassing almost 5000 runs for the team at a strike rate of 158.63.
In the upcoming IPL 2023 season, RCB will be led by Faf du Plessis and begin their campaign against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 2.
