IPL 2021 Auction: AB de Villiers Becomes The First Foreign Player To Receive Rs.100 Crore In Salary

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batting mainstay, AB de Villiers creates an off-field record as he becomes the first overseas player to earn a sum of more than 100 crores from the Indian Premier League (IPL).

RCB, along with all the other franchises have announced their retained and released players list ahead of the auction for the forthcoming 14th edition of the IPL. The IPL 2021 auction, a mini-auction, will take place around mid-February and the tournament is expected to be slated for April; this time in India itself after being hosted in the UAE.

AB de Villiers retained for 11 cr; becomes 5th player to earn over 100 cr from IPL

RCB has released 10 players and retained 12 players from their squad which finished 4th last season; they have also traded in a couple of all-rounders from Delhi Capitals. As per a report in InsideSport, De Villiers, who has a contract for 11 crores, now becomes the first foreign player in the history of the league to make INR 100 crores in earnings in the cash-rich league.

AB de Villiers is one of the few players to have played all the editions of the IPL. He played the first three seasons with the now-defunct Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) for a little over a crore each season.

Then he was bought by RCB ahead of the 2011 IPL for 5 crores. Three seasons later – with additions each year – his contract saw a massive increment to 9.5 cr. which then further increased to 11 crores ahead of IPL 2018. The South African is retained for the same price for IPL 2021 which takes his overall earning INR 102.5 crore from his contracts in the IPL.

‘Mr.360′ as he fondly referred to, because of his all-round hitting range, has amassed 4849 runs at an average of 40.41 and a strike rate of 151.91 making him one of the greatest batsmen to play in the biggest T20 league. Last season, largely on the back of de Villiers’ form – despite not playing international cricket- RCB qualified for the playoffs – he scored 454 at a strike rate of 158.74 winning several matches with his late order finishing.

The likes of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma had already crossed the 100 crore mark while Raina became the fourth one to do so with his contract for the Chennai Super Kings for IPL 2021.

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