IPL 2023: I had a very competitive relationship at first with AB de Villers, reveals Faf du Plessis

The RCB skipper went down the memory land and recalled how still young at age, De Villiers would bat like he is from a different planet and dominate the senior players. He caught everyone’s attention with his exceptional power-hitting abilities, which is likely what gave compatriot Faf a competitive edge.

 

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Faf describes De Villiers as someone who was way ahead of his time and was god gifted.

In a podcast with RCB, Faf revisited his early days with ABD and talked about how their competitive relationship grew into affection.

“We were rivals in primary school. He was based from the east side of town and I was 13 years old. We went to the same school which is one of the best sporting schools in South Africa,” he said.

“We were like super competitive personalities. It was a very competitive relationship at first that grew into a friendship.”

Young ABD and Faf.

“AB’s path was so different to mine. AB was the best. The right people’s eyes were on him. He would just turn it up and be amazing. He’d pull out this innings and everyone would go wow this guy needs to play for South Africa live,” he added.

The RCB batter revealed that de Villiers de Villiers was a multi-sport star, which would perplex him. Faf, on the other hand, focused only on cricket.

“At school, he was an exceptional sportsman, naturally gifted at everything so you could do everything and he actually jumped through Hockey and Rugby and Cricket. He was very good at everything.”

“It wasn’t quite sure where he was going with which sports and I was so focused on cricket so consistency in cricket became my thing,” he said.

“AB didn’t really care. He was like I’m just gonna play cricket, I’m just gonna have fun but then during the national week at the end of the season; when we got picked out of all of the different schools as franchises to represent your age group you go to a tournament against all the other states. AB would turn it up to another level and he used to score three hundreds in five games.”

Faf told how young de Villiers would smack players his age as if they were babies to him.

“It would be like him playing against baby kids like he was just on a dark different planet. He had this ability to just jump jump and then after the tournament he’ll play against a senior provincial side as a 19 year old and be like I’m too good for you guys and dominate them. 6 weeks later, he got an opportunity to play for the SA side for the first time and he would just smack 90 off 60 balls.”

“He was just shooting lights out way before his time and my journey was the opposite of that. My journey was like a gravel road that takes time, builds you , breaks you,” he added.