The clock is ticking for the March 22 season opener of the Indian Premier League’s 17th edition. This year, defending champions Chennai Super Kings will face the Royal Challengers Bangalore at their home ground Chepauk later this month. While there’s a lot of chatter around CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s IPL retirement, the fate of RCB’s Virat Kohli remains unclear for the season.
Now, his former teammate AB de Villiers has dropped a big clue on whether Kohli will play or not. In a comment on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers said that ‘nothing is confirmed.’ He also said that the confirmation is likely to come from either RCBI skipper Faf du Plessis or Head Coach Andy Flower. Virat Kohli has suggested that he may want me to visit just to hang out with him and some of the other batters, de Villiers mentioned on his YouTube channel.
In 2021, de Villers had declared his retirement from the IPL. His remained with the RCB franchise till his announced retirement from all formats of the game. He had joined RCB in 2011. de Villiers amassed 5,162 IPL runs with a supreme strike rate of 151.69. In 2023, de Villiers was also inducted in RCB’s hall of fame. In his YouTube episode, de Villiers also spoke about possibility of a coaching stint with the Challengers.
It all began with a remark from Gavaskar. While interacting with students at an event hosted by the Indian Institute of Management-Ranchi, Gavaskar remarked, “Will Kohli play (the IPL)? Nothing is certain as of now, nothing can be said. There’s some reason that he has been away from the game. Maybe, he may not play the Indian Premier League 17 as well.” Although Gavaskar’s comments were speculative, fans have begun to ponder whether Kohli might opt out of the IPL.