“Sorry to say, but he played for the wrong franchise” - Sanjay Manjrekar’s huge statement on AB de Villiers ahead of IPL 2025
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has made a huge statement regarding AB de Villiers, blaming Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for curtailing his brilliance.
Talking on Star Sports, Manjrekar opined that had AB de Villiers played for any other franchise, the world would have seen his true greatness.
"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," he reckoned.
He was also asked to compare between the South African great and India's current T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav. When asked whether Suryakumar has overtaken de Villiers, he agreed by placing the Indian batter above the South African in the T20 format.
"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," Manjrekar said.
Ab de Villiers's record for RCB in the IPL
While Sanjay Manjrekar reckons AB de Villiers's full potential was not realized at RCB, his numbers for the franchise paint a different picture. The South African joined the Bengaluru franchise in 2011 and was with them until his retirement in 2021.
He is their second highest run-getter after Virat Kohli. The right-hander amassed 4,522 runs from 145 innings for RCB at an average of 41.10 and a strike-rate of 158.33. He also scored two hundreds and 37 half-centuries for the franchise.
De Villiers scored his first century for RCB during the 2015 IPL season when he slammed an unbeaten 133 at the Wankhede Stadium against the Mumbai Indians. His second hundred came the very next season when he scored a blistering unbeaten 129 against the Gujarat Lions at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Chris Gayle, with 3,420 runs, is the third highest run-getter for RCB in IPL history. The West Indian hit five centuries for RCB, including an imperious 175* off 66 balls against the Pune Warriors in 2013.