IPL 2017: AB de Villiers reveals the love letters he penned but was too scared to give

Not many would have imagined, but AB de Villiers is quite the romantic and revealed that he’s always been an emotional and sentimental man. When it comes to romance, the South African is old-school in his approach.

“I have a few memories of writing while growing up in school. I was a bit of a romantic, every girl I liked in school, I would write a letter. The problem with that was I was always too scared to give it to them”.

“So, I would go back home, read the letters, there was a lot of love in there. I used to climb on the roof of my house and hide the letters there. There were around 30 letters there, all of them unread by the girls” he added.

But de Villiers did confirm that those early day jitters have finally disappeared. His approach remains the same though. He still pens down love letters, but only to his wife Danielle Swart, whom he married back in 2013.

“Luckily, now that I am a bit older and finally got married, I have decided to use all that power and now write letters to my wife. Just the other day, when she left from India back to South Africa, I slipped a little letter into her passport. Writing can really change the world, no doubt about that”, he signed off.

De Villiers happy at RCB despite their torrid season

De Villiers hasn’t had a good run of form with RCB

When de Villiers walked into the room, it was unlike his usual self. There was no wide smile, no cheerful grin. On Monday, his side were handed their eighth loss of the campaign by Mumbai Indians. With hopes of a playoff spot all but gone, the South African agreed that RCB have been off the boil this season.

“RCB is a very professional unit, unfortunately, this year we haven’t played as well as we wanted to. But we have learned some valuable lessons – the fans, the electric vibe in the grounds and the friendships I have made over the last ten years. Those are the kind of things that stand out to me”, he stated.

2017 marks his tenth season in the Indian Premier League and ABD looked back on his arduous yet memorable journey. The right-hander believes that he is with the right team and shrugged off any idea of a possible transfer.

“The last ten years of the IPL has been a great ride and life changing. I started my campaign with the Delhi Daredevils for three years and then at Royal Challengers Bangalore, it’s my seventh season here. I couldn’t have asked for a better franchise”, he told reporters at an event hosted by Mont Blanc on Tuesday.

ABD shares a good rapport with Virat Kohli

Speaking about RCB’s last match where they lost on the penultimate ball to Mumbai Indians, de Villiers didn’t expect such a close game and urged his teammates to put up a good fight in their remaining games, despite virtually nothing to play for.

“I thought we were out of the game but it was great. I was quite nervous and was hoping we can somehow find a way to get through. We have a few more games left and we will hopefully finish the season with some dignity. You always want to compete, it was a really good game of cricket. We have let ourselves down in the last few games, not competing well”, he added.

Mr. 360° also picked his favourite to win the IPL this year, “Mumbai will be really happy with Rohit Sharma batting so well. They have a wonderful team and have a really good chance of going all the way this year”.

Sharma and co. currently sit at the top of the points table with 16 points, having lost just twice this season.