Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers believes that if Rohit Sharma were to join Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season, it could be the biggest move in the tournament's history. Speaking on his YouTube channel in response to rumours about Rohit leaving Mumbai Indians (MI), de Villiers stated that such a move would create headlines everywhere.
In a live Q&A session on his YouTube channel, de Villiers reacted to the possibility of Rohit moving from MI to RCB. He expressed scepticism, saying, "I almost laughed at the Rohit comment. That would be quite a story if he moved from Mumbai Indians to RCB. Wow! Imagine the headlines."
He further said that such a move, which would likely pair Rohit with long-time India teammate Virat Kohli, would certainly be the biggest deal in the history of the IPL.
"It would be bigger than Hardik Pandya's move. Hardik moved from Gujarat Titans back to Mumbai, which wasn’t a huge surprise. But if Rohit goes to join his rivals in RCB...oh my god! I don’t see that happening. I’d give it a zero or 0.1 percent chance."
Ahead of IPL 2024, Rohit Sharma was unceremoniously stripped of his captaincy with Hardik Pandya taking over. Hardik Pandya had made his move from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians last season which saw him getting booed by fans.
While Rohit joining Virat at RCB is a distant dream, it remains to be seen what decisions are made by the teams for retentions, and followed by that in the auction before next year’s tournament. According to reports, the IPL GC has agreed the franchise owners' request to increase the number of retentions per team to 5. Each franchise will have ₹75 crore for the retentions while the total purse will be ₹120 crore.
