‘AB de Villiers played for wrong franchise in IPL’ - Manjrekar makes bold statement about RCB star

For the longest time, the comparison between Suryakumar Yadav and AB de Villiers has been a never-settling one, especially in the shortest version of the game, as the Indian skipper has reaped success in various series with a zen-like consistency. 

The ability to play strokes all around the ground made the duo similar in many ways, but former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels Surya has already surpassed the legendary South African batter in T20s. Manjrekar further added that de Villiers shouldn’t have played for RCB as it diminished his returns in the format.

When asked whether Suryakumar Yadav has surpassed AB de Villiers as "Mr. 360," Manjrekar remarked: “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," Manjrekar said during the Star Sports show.

As a matter of fact, de Villiers is the second-highest run-scorer for the franchise, having scored 4491 runs at an average of 41.2 and a strike rate of 158.6.