AB de Villiers might just be the best batter in IPL history. He doesn’t have a volume of runs like Virat Kohli or Shikhar Dhawan, but among the top ten scorers, he has the best strike rate and the second-highest average. The only thing missing is an Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy.
SKY better than ABD?
Despite playing 14 seasons and 184 matches, one of the greatest white-ball batters the league or the world has ever seen ended his career without an IPL trophy. Former Indian cricketer thinks that Suryakumar Yadav is better than ABD because, in T20s alone, SKY has a bigger winning impact.
“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,” Manjrekar told Star Sports.
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RCB wasn’t the right team AB de Villiers: Manjrekar
The former Indian batter went on to say that ABD couldn’t show his full greatness because he played for the wrong franchise, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). After spending his first three seasons of the IPL with the Delhi Daredevils (Delhi Capitals), he switched bases and spent 11 seasons with RCB but ended with no trophies.
“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,” Manjrekar added.
AB de Villiers stats for RCB
| Span | Innings | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s |
| 2011-2021 | 145 | 4522 | 41.10 | 158.33 | 2 | 37 |
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