Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) cricketers Chris Gayle and Robin Uthappa have allegedly lambasted the franchise for not backing other players like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
Notably, Kohli (238 matches, 7048 runs) and de Villiers (157 matches, 4522 runs) are the top two run-getters for the Bangalore-based franchise.
Chris Gayle does not sit far off with 3420 runs and 5 hundreds for RCB, that too, off just 91 matches.
Uthappa, however, struggled during his time at Bangalore, scoring just 706 runs off 40 matches.
Chris Gayle blasts RCB after Uthappa opines they’re all about Kohli and de Villiers
Indian Sports journalist Himanshu Pareek has shared a post on the microblogging site Twitter, claiming former Team India cricketer Robin Uthappa and Gayle are unsatisfied over the quality of treatment towards players other than ex-skipper Virat Kohli and now retired de Villiers.
The post quotes Chris Gayle as saying, “Yeah, players do not feel like a part of the team in RCB. They (the franchise) need to learn how to work on words like TRUST and LOYALTY”.
Uthappa: RCB is more like only about Virat and AB de Villiers.
Chris Gayle: Yeah! Players don't feel like a part of the team in RCB. They need to learn how to work on words like TRUST and Loyalty.#CricketTwitter#IPL2023
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) January 27, 2023
Though the source of the comments has not been revealed, there appears to be some truth in them. The franchise has been infamous for chopping and changing its team combination far too much, and a lot of big-ticket players have lacked backing from the side in the past.
These include Kangaroo all-rounder Shane Watson, Kiwi duo of Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, KL Rahul, de Kock and Jacques Kallis just to name a handful. In a shocking move, leggie Yuzvendra Chahal (139 wickets) was also not reacquired at last season’s IPL auction despite being the most successful bowler for the trophy-less outfit.
Since the alleged comments come from Robin Uthappa and Chris Gayle –both of whom were once a part of the RCB setup– it’ll be intriguing to see if other former players join the discussion over Royal Challengers Bangalore’s use and throw treatment of their players.