“If Only We Kept Hold Of…”: AB de Villiers’ Subtle Poke At RCB On KL Rahul’s Potential Return

KL Rahul was one of the biggest names not to have been retained ahead of the IPL 2025 auctions. In place of him, Lucknow Super Giants opted to retain Nicholas Pooran (INR 21 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (11 crore), and Mayank Yadav (11 crore), followed by the uncapped duo of Ayush Badoni (4 crore) and pacer Mohsin Khan (4 crore). Other big people LSG have let go of are Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, and Deepak Hooda.

There is a strong rumour that Rahul may be pursued by his old franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Answering a fan’s question on the same, Ab De Villiers, an RCB hall of fame inductee, made an interesting comment.

“Yuzi, KL Rahul to return? If only we kept hold of KL Rahul, we never would’ve had to buy him back in the auction, and same for Yuzvendra Chahal,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“Kagiso Rabada would be nice at RCB; that would be very, very cool. He is a guy that might go for a decent price like a discount. Because last season maybe wasn’t his best but he is the number 1 Test bowler in the world right now. I think he is gonna have the best IPL of his life coming up in 2025. But all the teams know that, I don’t think so, I think he will go for a discount and I hope RCB pick him up, it will be fantastic.”

Thank you for the reply @ABdeVilliers17 pic.twitter.com/L5uTfW5IS3

— Prajwal Shetty (@shettyytweets) November 2, 2024

Recently, newly-appointed Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting noted his surprise at some high-profile players, such as KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Shreyas Iyer, being released by their franchises.

“There are a lot of exciting players available. I was a bit surprised by some of the non-Indian retentions, with Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant up for auction, even KL Rahul to some extent. It seems certain franchises are aiming for a change in direction,” Ponting remarked.