AB de Villiers on Tuesday thanked Bengaluru and Royal Challengers Bangalore after the IPL team retired his jersey in a star-studded affair at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday.

The South African spent a decade at RCB scoring more than 4000 runs and delighting fans with some astonishing knocks along the way.

In a ceremony held at the Chinnaswamy stadium, De Villiers and West Indies legend Chris Gayle were honoured by the franchise who also retired their jersey numbers, De Villiers’s no 17 and Gayle’s no 333.

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I don’t know where to start really.. 

So March 26th 2023 Chris and I were inducted into the RCB hall of fame and our jersey numbers retired forever. My heart blossomed as my wife, two boys and little girl walked up the stairs to enter our RCB den, stairs that I have walked up so many times with butterflies fluttering in my stomach. It felt weird to walk up there in a different state of mind. 

Tears filled my eyes when I stepped on to the balcony of our dressing room at the Chinnaswamy in front of a packed stadium. I never thought hearing the chants of ABD could beat the first time, but this time was different. It used to be adrenalin combined with an extreme hunger to please the cry out of our fans to find a way to win, this time it was a sea of emotion that filled my body as I simply felt grateful to have had my time in the arena representing a proud city, an amazing franchise and incredible teammates. 

So many special memories rushed back as I thought of all my days spent in India since 2003, I have a deep connection with this country and its people❤️I’ll forever be grateful!

Thank you teammates, especially Virat, thank you RCB, thank you Bengaluru❤️🥲

— AB de Villiers’s post on Instagram