Delhi Daredevils Playing XI from AB de Villiers' 1st IPL game - Where are they now?

South African legend AB de Villiers ended his Indian Premier League (IPL) career earlier today. The right-handed batter informed fans about his decision to retire via an Instagram post.

AB de Villiers played his last IPL season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) earlier this year. He played well for the team and scored 313 runs at a strike rate of 148.34. The RCB star mentioned in his retirement speech that he will be a RCBian forever.

But many fans would know that RCB was not AB de Villiers' first IPL team. The former South Africa skipper turned up for the Delhi Daredevils (now known as Delhi Capitals) in the first three seasons and scored his first IPL ton for Delhi in 2009.

AB de Villiers made his IPL debut against the Chennai Super Kings on May 2, 2008 at Chepauk. While de Villiers has now retired, in this article today, we will look at Delhi Daredevils' playing XI from his IPL debut and where those players are now.

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Openers - Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag was AB de Villiers' first IPL captain

Former Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag opened the innings for Delhi Daredevils in that game. Both batters scored a fifty and helped Delhi win by eight wickets. Sehwag also took Parthiv Patel's wicket in that match.

Both cricketers have now retired. While Sehwag has played in the Abu Dhabi T10 League and Road Safety World Series since retirement, Gambhir has joined politics, and also works as a cricket expert.

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Middle Order - AB de Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik (wk)

AB de Villiers batted at number three on his IPL debut and scored an unbeaten 21-ball 26*. Interestingly, he did not hit a single six on his debut. Shikhar Dhawan batted at number four and completed the formalities with de Villiers by scoring a 17-ball 19*. DD chased a 172-run target in 19 overs. Dinesh Karthik did not bat in that game.

As mentioned ahead, de Villiers retired earlier today, while both Dhawan and Karthik are active cricketers. Karthik recently tried his luck in the commentary box as well.

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All Rounders - Shoaib Malik and Rajat Bhatia

IPL 2008 was the only season where Pakistani cricketers participated. Pakistan's former T20I captain Shoaib Malik played for the Delhi Daredevils that year. He and Rajat Bhatia were the team's all-rounders in AB de Villiers' debut match. Both bowled one over and conceded 11 runs each. Neither of them batted.

Bhatia has retired from all forms of cricket, but Malik is still active at the domestic and international levels.

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Bowlers - Yo Mahesh, Glenn McGrath, Pradeep Sangwan and Mohammad Asif

Delhi Daredevils played that game with four pace bowlers in their bowling attack. Mohammad Asif and Glenn McGrath were the overseas names, while Yo Mahesh and Pradeep Sangwan were the Indian options. Sangwan returned wicketless, but the three bowlers took a wicket each.

Asif, McGrath and Mahesh have now retired, while Sangwan captains Delhi in domestic cricket. Asif's career derailed after the infamous spot-fixing scandal. McGrath has involved himself with MRF Pace Foundation and McGrath Foundation since retirement, while Mahesh is currently playing in the Abu Dhabi T10 League 2021-22.