Vinay Kumar inducted into RCB Hall of Fame, joins elite company of AB de Villiers Chris Gayle | Cricket News

Former India pacer Vinay Kumar was inducted into the Royal Challengers Bangalore Hall of Fame at the RCB Unbox event on Tuesday. Vinay joins the elite company of RCB icons Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. “Formidable cricketer, our third highest wicket taker. We are celebrating Namma Vinay Kumar as we engrave his name in the elite list. – RCB Hall of Fame,” RCB wrote on X road.

Also known as the ‘Davangere Express’, Vinay was a formidable face during his tenure at RCB. He was a part of the RCB team from 2008 to 2010 and 2012 to 2013. He was RCB’s leading wicket-taker for two consecutive seasons, taking 19 wickets in the 2012 season and 23 wickets in the 2013 season.

The Karnataka-born cricketer had an illustrious IPL career, playing for four teams including Mumbai Indians, RCB, Kochi Tuskers Kerela and Kolkata Knight Riders.

In his 11 seasons in the cash-rich league, he took 105 wickets in 105 games. He is RCB’s third-highest wicket-taker with 80 wickets, behind spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (139) and Harshal Patel (99).

In 2004, he made his debut for Karnataka in a Ranji Trophy match against Bengal.
He also played international cricket, playing 9 T20Is, 31 ODIs and the only Test match, taking a total of 49 wickets in 41 matches across all three formats.

He left his mark in the domestic competition and became the only pacer to take more than 400 wickets in the Ranji Trophy. He is also the only pacer to take the top five wickets in the Ranji Trophy.

Last year, South African stars AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle became the first players inducted into the Hall of Fame.

De Villiers played 157 games for the team between 2011 and 2021. He scored 4,522 points with an average of 41.10. He scored two centuries and 37 fifties for the team with a strike rate of over 158 runs.

Gayle played 91 games for RCB from 2011-17, scoring 3,420 runs with a strike rate of over 154, five centuries and 21 half-centuries. His best score is 175*.