The former Indian cricketer and now cricket analyst Sanjay Manjrekar has stirred discussions by claiming that the South African legend AB de Villiers played for the wrong franchise during his Indian Premier League (IPL) career.
AB de Villiers, renowned for his extraordinary batting prowess, made his IPL debut in 2008 with Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) and represented them for three seasons. In the 2011 IPL mega auction, he moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), where he remained until his retirement in 2021.
During his 14-year IPL career, AB de Villiers amassed 5162 runs in 184 matches. However, despite his stellar performances, he never managed to clinch the coveted IPL trophy. He reached the final twice with RCB, in 2011 and 2016, but both the campaigns ended in heartbreak.
Sanjay Manjrekar believes that AB de Villiers, one of the most celebrated players in the IPL history, was not utilised effectively. According to him, AB de Villiers should have batted higher up the order to make a greater impact and even suggested that the South African icon played for the wrong franchise.
During a show, when Sanjay Manjrekar was asked whether Suryakumar Yadav has overshadowed or surpassed AB de Villiers as Mr. 360, the former Indian cricketer said, “I’ll say yes, because of the match-winning impact. AB was incredible. But AB’s greatness was that he averaged 50 in Tests. Even in one day (ODIs). So, he’s an amazing player. But only if you look at T20 cricket; I’ve seen both of them a lot. AB, in IPL, he was not used properly. His real ability. So, in IPL we didn’t get that much juice out of him. Definitely (batted higher). And, sorry to say, but played for the wrong franchise. If he had played elsewhere, we could have seen the greatness of AB de Villiers.”
Here is the video:
https://x.com/StarSportsIndia/status/1883566268953043214
Click to watch this video directly on X
AB De Villiers holds the distinction of being RCB’s second highest run-scorer, having notched up 4491 runs in 156 matches for the team. His contributions include two centuries and 37 half centuries. He is also part of the elite group of players who have scored over 5000 IPL runs.
Despite his failure to secure an IPL title, AB de Villiers remains an iconic figure in the tournament’s history, admired for his innovative batting and match-winning abilities. Sanjay Manjrekar’s comments have sparked debate about whether AB de Villiers’ IPL journey could have been more successful with a different franchise or batting strategy.
Do you agree with Sanjay Manjrekar that AB de Villiers played for the wrong IPL team? Let us know your views in this regard.
