AB de Villiers played for Delhi and Bengaluru franchises in his IPL career.
Former Indian hitter Sanjay Manjrekar made a surprising revelation that famed South African batter and captain AB de Villiers played for the wrong franchise in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL).
The former South African cricketer made his IPL debut for the Delhi Capitals (previously the Delhi Daredevils) in 2008 and spent three seasons with the team. He joined Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 2011 IPL mega auction and spent 11 seasons with the Bengaluru-based team before retiring in 2021.
De Villiers amassed 5162 runs in 184 IPL matches but never won the title. He represented RCB in the IPL finals in 2011 and 2016 but lost both times. Despite not winning any IPL title, AB de Villiers is considered to be one of the greatest players to ever play in the league.
However, as per Sanjay Manjrekar, AB de Villiers was not properly used by either the Delhi franchise or the Bengaluru franchise in the IPL. He stated that De Villiers should’ve batted higher up the order and stated that the South African great played for the wrong franchise.
During the Star Sports show, when asked if Suryakumar Yadav has eclipsed AB de Villiers as Mr. 360, Manjrekar 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."
De Villiers ended his IPL career as RCB’s second-leading run-getter in IPL. In 156 matches for RCB, he scored 4491 runs with the help of two centuries and 37 fifties. He is one of the seven players to score more than 5000 runs in the IPL.