IPL 2016: Yuzvendra Chahal apologises to AB de Villiers for inadvertent on-field accident
Royal Challengers Bangalore bowler Yuzvendra Chahal on Tuesday apologised to his teammate AB de Villiers on Twitter after their match against Gujarat Lions on May 2, as the leg-spinner had unintentionally hurt the ace batsman while celebrating. RCB won the first qualifier against GL to enter the finals of the ongoing edition of the IPL.
After a rare failure from the team's powerhouse Virat Kohli, RCB were reduced to 29-5, with Chris Gayle, KL Rahul and Shane Watson walking back to the dugout in succession. It was De Villiers who played a steady knock and scored 79 off 47 balls to take the team to the finals. The South African legend along with Iqbal Abdulla (33 off 25) posted 91 runs, which is the second highest seventh wicket partnership in the tournament.
As soon as the victory run was scored, the RCB team in the dugout ran to the field to celebrate. The 25-year-old Chahal jumped on to de Villiers, and the collision led to the latter's helmet falling out of his head. The impact hit de Villiers on the chin, cutting him in the region in the process.
At the end of the game, he had an injury mark on his chin, which was visible when he had come to receive his Man of the Match award during the post-match presentation.
Chahal took to Twitter to apologise to the Proteas skipper and also congratulated him and Abdullah for their match-winning performance.
I'm really sorry bro @ABdeVilliers17 but thank for tonight #loveyou and not least @iqqiabdullah well done pic.twitter.com/NyERP4xO6z
— yuZvendra Chahal23 (@yuzi_chahal) May 24, 2016
England pacer Stuart Broad had posted the video of the incident on his Twitter account:
Whiplash @ABdeVilliers17 @IPL pic.twitter.com/hcJzDT8br9
— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) May 24, 2016
Chahal was roped in by RCB in the seventh edition of the tournament after failing to make a mark with Mumbai Indians earlier in his IPL career. He has been a key bowler for the team since his induction to the team and is their highest wicket-taker this season, picking up 20 wickets playing 12 matches, his best being 4/25 against Kings XI Punjab.
Also read: Yuzvendra Chahal: All you need to know about the Royal Challengers Bangalore spinner
RCB will be facing the winners of the eliminator two on May 29 at the M.Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.
The leggie is set to earn his first international cap, as he has been called to represent India in the tour of Zimbabwe in June, along with his other RCB teammates KL Rahul and Mandeep Singh.
India will be playing three ODIs and three T20s from June 11 to 22 at the Harare Sports Club.