‘Delhi Daredevils had cancerous characters’: AB de Villiers exposes ‘poisonous’ player culture from early IPL days

Delhi Capitals are now one of the last two original IPL franchises to remain trophy-less in the 18-year history of the tournament, despite the depth of quality they possessed in the early years of the tournament. One of the great what-ifs for fans of the capital franchise is what could have been if they had held on to AB de Villiers, who was part of the team for the first three years before developing into an IPL legend with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Delhi Daredevils boasted of a young Ab de Villiers, but 'poisonous' conditions behind the scenes led to the South African jumping ship and becoming an RCB legend instead.

The South African great revealed, however, that not all was rosy behind the scenes in the Daredevils unit, despite the star names they played host to in those inaugural years of success. Having made the playoffs in each of the first two years and being right on the brink in the third, de Villiers revealed that a toxic culture within the team was the cause for the implosion that was to follow.

"I'd hate to give you names — burning people, you know — but the Delhi Daredevils were in shambles. There were a lot of poisonous characters in that team," said de Villiers in an interview with cricket.com.

De Villiers reflected on sharing the dressing room with some icons of cricket as a young up-and-comer on the international scene. "There were lots of legends, which makes it a bittersweet memory for me. I still remember those times fondly. Some of the highlights of my life and career came during that stint-especially spending time with guys like Glenn McGrath and Daniel Vettori. These were my heroes growing up, and I was honestly a bit scared of them.”

“I'm sitting here in 2008 and (McGrath) sits next to me and goes, ‘I like the way you play.’ So from those highs to also realising there's some cancerous characters inside, no need to mention names. It was a very bittersweet three years for me,” explained to Protea legend.

Beyond these veteran greats, the Daredevils also played home to players such as Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, and a young David Warner, but could not cobble together victories in knockout games.

‘I thought I was going to be the man…’

De Villiers moved on to talking about how the tough times began with behind-the-scenes turmoil. After scoring 465 runs for DD in the 2009 on home turf, AB was in and out of the team in the 2010 season, not finding any consistency. He was ultimately released ahead of the 2011 auction, where he went on to join RCB, and the rest would be history.

Also Read: AB de Villiers hints Virat Kohli ghosted him after last year's 'pregnancy' blunder

"2009 was nice. I played almost the entire season in South Africa, came back, and I thought I was going to be the man. Then, all of a sudden, I wasn't playing again. It was mixed feelings. I was told I would be retained, and then the next minute, I saw myself in the auction. I didn't even know what had happened. So many weird things went on."

While the Daredevils had a torrid time between de Villiers leaving the team in 2011 and their rebrand leading to some success as the Capitals in 2019 and onwards, the South African developed into arguably the greatest IPL batter in the tournament’s history. He amassed 5162 runs, including some iconic performances for the Bengaluru franchise.

"The day I walked into RCB, I felt like they wanted me to play every game. I was so surprised. They just went, 'You're the man. You're going to grow here. You're going to become a great player with us-you're part of the family.' Done and dusted,” said de Villiers, who was in the crowd to watch RCB lift their first ever IPL title, and present to support his long time teammate and close friend Virat Kohli.

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