Sanjay Manjrekar ATTACKS Virat Kohli’s RCB for ruining AB de Villiers' IPL legacy

Former Indian batter-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has recently made a bold statement on the South African legend AB de Villiers and his Indian Premier League (IPL) career. The legendary batter played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for 11 seasons in the IPL.

Sanjay Manjrekar claimed that AB de Villiers played for the wrong franchise during his entire IPL career. The cricket expert has boldly claimed that Mr. 360 might have achieved even greater success had he played for a different franchise in the Indian Premier League.

Suryakumar Yadav has overtaken AB de Villiers as "Mr. 360": Sanjay Manjrekar

Even the former Indian batter has claimed that India’s T20I captain and swashbuckling batter Suryakumar Yadav has surpassed AB de Villiers as T20 cricket's "Mr. 360" due to his match-winning performances. However, Manjrekar admitted de Villiers' greatness across formats but said that AB's potential in T20s was not fully utilized in the IPL, all thanks to the RCB.

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Sanjay Manjrekar said on Star Sports when asked if Suryakumar Yadav has overtaken ABD as "Mr. 360" in T20s: “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 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.”

Sanjay Manjrekar claims AB de Villiers played for the wrong IPL franchise

The cricket commentator has further suggested that AB de Villiers didn’t reach his full potential in the IPL due to playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and that’s why he feels the Bengaluru-based franchise was not the right fit for the South African legend.

Manjrekar signed off by saying, “So, in IPL we didn't get that much juice out of him. AB's true ability wasn't entirely harnessed in the IPL. He was often sent lower down the order, which limited his impact in some games. And, unfortunately, he played for the wrong team. If he had been with another franchise, perhaps we would have seen even more of his brilliance.”

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AB de Villiers' legacy in IPL with RCB

Meanwhile, AB de Villiers is considered one of the iconic stars in IPL history. The former South African skipper started his IPL career in 2008 with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals). After three seasons with the Delhi-based franchise, the former batting legend joined Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2011.

He went on to become a key player for the franchise over the next 11 seasons in the league. De Villiers is the second-highest run-scorer in the RCB’s IPL history, with 4522 runs from 2011 to 2021. The Proteas great is only behind Virat Kohli, and even Chris Gayle falls more than 1000 runs behind him.

Over his entire IPL career, de Villiers scored a total of 5162 runs in 184 games. However, just 640 of those runs came during his time with Delhi Daredevils. Notably, De Villiers has recently expressed his desire to come back to the cricket field, but only in the friendly matches. He also made it clear that he won’t return to the RCB.