'I was overpaid' - Abhinav Mukund reveals AB de Villiers' honest confession after IPL 2025 final

Abhinav Mukund made a massive claim in a recent conversation where he stated that AB de Villiers felt he was overpaid by RCB in the IPL. The popular broadcaster said that he was sitting next to the South African, who genuinely meant when he mentioned he was paid more than he deserved by the 2025 champions during his playing days.

De Villiers said the above in the context of the price RCB had to pay for some of their major stars in the IPL 2025. He claimed that none of the players in the current squad were paid more than INR 15 crore and felt it was great to get match-winners like Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, and others for a fairly good amount before the 18th edition of the league.

"I was sitting next to AB de Villiers and he told me something that I don't think any legend in the IPL has said. But he genuinely meant it; he said it from a place of emotion. He said, 'I was overpaid'," Mukund mentioned.

"'I'm overpaid, I thought I was overpaid because I feel like all of the other elements that you're talking about, right? Where you're able to buy so many other superstar players, all those match winners you're talking about. The highest amount of money that they spent on was for someone like a Phil Salt or Josh Hazlewood. They didn't cross 15 (INR 15 crore),'" Mukund added.

He further felt RCB would be pleased with the fact that they did not go all the way for Venkatesh Iyer, who cost INR 23.75 crore to KKR and did not perform as per expectations. Mukund claimed RCB could buy Salt, Hazlewood, Jitesh, and saved some amount to spend on Bhuvneshwar Kumar by not bidding higher than KKR for Iyer.

"In hindsight, they must be thinking, thank God we didn't go all the way for Venkatesh Iyer. Because their last losing bid was Venkatesh Iyer. And the next three buys were Josh Hazlewood, Jitesh Sharma and I think Phil Salt. Those were the next three buys. And they saved so much in the bank for day two when Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in," Mukund added.