Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Shashank Singh shared that he had a one-hour conversation with former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers after the IPL 2025 final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). De Villiers, regarded as one of RCB’s greatest players, was present in Ahmedabad for the historic clash.
RCB won their first-ever IPL title by defeating PBKS by six runs, thereby ending their silverware drought. It was a sweet and bitter night to Shashank who failed to get the trophy, but excelled in his superb matchless 61 in 30 balls.
In an interview with Crictracker earlier, Shashank Singh remembered the after match talk with De Villiers as a source of great information and inspiration at a crucial point in his career. He said:
“I talked to him for an hour. And he knew about it. And I was very happy that he knew my name. Because 10 years ago, or 5 years ago, I didn’t think that AB de Villiers would know my name. So it was a big thing for me. He knew my name. He came to our final match this year. He came to watch the match.”
Shashank Singh
He continued:
“Obviously, I told him that when I was batting, he told someone that this guy can change the game. I mean, again, it was a compliment. Sometimes, such compliments touch you a lot. So I mean, AB de Villiers is your idol, and he was saying that I can change the game. I felt very good that I am in the right direction. I am on the right path.”
Shashank Singh
Shashank had a good IPL 2025 season with the bat, scoring 350 runs at an average of 50 and a strike rate of 153.50 in 17 games.
“I told him that you are my idol” – Shashank Singh
In an interview with the Protea great following the IPL 2025 final, Shashank Singh went on to talk about how much he admires AB de Villiers. De Villiers has amassed 5,162 runs at an average of over 40 and a strike rate of 151.68 in 184 appearances, ranking him as the eighth-leading IPL run scorer.
“I like AB de Villiers a lot. I always consider him my idol. Especially the way he used to play white ball. I told him that you are my idol and I am a big fan of yours, and that’s why I want to be like you. You play a lot of shots, and I don’t think I can play all those, because in the world, there are very few people who can play like that. But your mindset, your intention, that’s what I want to learn from you.”
Shashank Singh
In addition to his amazing IPL stats, De Villiers finished with over 20,000 runs and 47 hundreds in all formats, demonstrating his immense success in international cricket.
