Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) may choose not to retain AB de Villiers next season if it means keeping Glenn Maxwell, former batsman Gautam Gambhir has said. Gambhir said that Maxwell, who was RCB’s top run scorer this season, represents the future while the 37-year-old De Villiers does not.

“Yes, because I think they will retain Glenn Maxwell since he is the future, and AB de Villiers is not,” said Gambhir when asked if he feels RCB may choose not to retain De Villiers this season.

De Villiers, the former South African captain, joined RCB in 2011 and has been an integral part of the squad ever since. He has scored 5162 runs in the IPL and maintained a strike rate of 151.68 in 184 matches. While he scored 313 runs this season, most of his runs came in the first leg and he has managed a highest score of 26 in the UAE. That also marked one of two occasions where De Villiers managed to go past 20 in the UAE.

De Villiers retired from international cricket in 2019 and has seldom played in T20 tournaments apart from the IPL ever since.

Gambhir also said that RCB would want to retain Maxwell alongwith Virat Kohli and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Kohli stepped down as captain of the franchise this season, having taken over the reins in 2013 from Daniel Vettori.