Nostalgia Cam: Start of ABrilliant Association

Indian fans are perhaps one of the most emotional bunch in the world. Once their fandom takes full shape, the reverberating chants have the hair-raising effect. Over the years, they have made demigods out of cricketers. National pride mixed with fandom is often a sight to behold.

The Indian Premier League, however, exposed another branch of the celebrated fandom. The national boundaries were blurred and the local supporters embraced the foreign stars with glee. No jibes, no booing. Just pure love for a cricketer like he was one of their own.

AB de Villiers's autobiography has its cover of him in Royal Challengers Bangalore jersey – an indication of how much love he has got from the franchisee and what Bangalore means to him.

It all began on 9th April 2011. A special day for all RCB fans as the South African began his journey in Red and Gold.

AB started his career with Delhi Daredevils, played for them for three seasons before joining the Challengers.

And in his very first game for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, De Villiers allowed us a glimpse of his talent against a potent Kochi Tuskers bowling line up, which consisted of Muttiah Muralidharan, RP Singh, and Jadeja.

His 40-ball 54 against Kochi turned out to be his first of countless knocks that make him such a special player for the world to watch and more importantly, for RCB.