Sunil Gavaskar was in total praise of AB de Villiers after the South African smashed a match-winning 75 not out for RCB in their game against DC. Moreover, the legendary Indian batsman opined that de Villiers should open the batting for RCB and bat for 20 overs.
AB de Villiers has been in magnificent form. Out of the six matches that he has played in this IPL 2021, the South African superstar has already played three match-winning knocks for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has aggregated 204 runs at an average of 68.00 and a strike-rate of 174.36 this season.
In the first game, he scored a fine 48 (chasing 160) to help RCB beat the defending champions Mumbai Indians. He smashed a jaw-dropping 34-ball 76 on a slow Chennai wicket to take RCB to 204 against Kolkata Knight Riders, and in the last game against Delhi Capitals, his 75 not out set up the win for RCB.
That 75 not out came after he had walked in the ninth over with the score reading 60/3. It was a slightly tricky wicket, and de Villiers batted beautifully. He smashed 23 runs off the final over to take RCB to 171.
RCB eventually won a nail-biting game by one run as Mohammed Siraj defended 14 runs off the final over. However, it was de Villiers’ knock that set it up. Sunil Gavaskar was full praise for the former South African skipper. He wants to see more of him and hence, wants de Villiers to open the batting so that he can bat for 20 overs instead of walking out to bat in the middle overs.
“When you see a genius like that, you want to go and just watch him carry on. You want to say to the opposition – ‘Listen, why don’t you send him to open the batting because we can get to see more of him rather than him coming in the 10th or the 11th over. Let’s see 20 overs of ABD’, that’s what I, as a former batsman, always say when I see AB de Villiers in this kind of form,”
Sunil Gavaskar was quoted saying.
AB de Villiers has batted at No. 3, 4 and 5 in almost his entire IPL career. He has opened the innings only twice in IPL cricket, once in 2011 against Chennai Super Kings and the other in 2019 against Rajasthan Royals in a five-over game. Overall, he has mustered just ten runs while opening the batting.
