'He makes your jaw drop, why don't you send him to open?': Sunil Gavaskar mesmerized by RCB 'genius' AB de Villiers | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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'He makes your jaw drop, why don't you send him to open?': Sunil Gavaskar mesmerized by RCB 'genius' AB de Villiers

Apr 28, 2021 05:23 PM IST

IPL 2021, DC vs RCB: Sunil Gavaskar said AB de Villiers’ ‘audacious’ shots are ‘jaw dropping’ and he brings so much joy to the viewers that RCB should consider sending him to open the batting, which will allow him to bat 20 overs.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar described AB de Villiers’ unbeaten 75-run innings against Delhi Capitals in an IPL 2021 in Ahmedabad on Tuesday as ‘amazing’ and ‘magical’. De Villiers, who became the sixth batsman to score 5000 IPL runs and the only one at a strike rate of more than 150, hit 75 off 42 balls with five sixes and three fours to help RCB post 171 for 5, which turned out to be just enough as DC scored 170 for 4 and lost the match by 1 run.

Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on RCB's AB de Villiers
Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on RCB's AB de Villiers

Gavaskar said de Villiers’ ‘audacious’ shots are ‘jaw dropping’ and he brings so much joy to the viewers.

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“It’s amazing. It’s just magical. You can walk around the earth, just to see this man bat because he brings in so much. He gives you so much joy, he makes your jaw drop with the kind of audacity with which he plays some shots,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports after RCB reclaimed the top spot in IPL 2021 points table.

Also Read | Kohli and Siraj's gesture for Pant, Hetmyer after close match, goes viral

Put in to bat, Bangalore had seemed destined for a moderate score until De Villiers came in with the score of 60 for three.

Helped partly by Rajat Patidar, who made 31, De Villiers produced final over fireworks that changed the game. Kohli said that the South African went "berserk" with his man of the match performance.

De Villiers, who had not played competitive cricket in the five months before the IPL, hit 23 runs off the only over that Marcus Stoinis bowled, with three of his five sixes.

Also Read | 'Won't give him even 5 out of 10': Sehwag blames Pant's captaincy for DC loss

De Villiers said he spends much of the time in the team's pandemic bio bubble working out in his hotel room. "You have to stay fresh," said the 37-year-old.

Calling de Villiers a ‘genius’, Gavaskar said he would love de Villiers to open for RCB as that would allow him to play 20 overs.

WATCH | Pant, Hetmyer fifties go in vain as RCB win by 1 run


“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,” he said.

Talking about the sixes that de Villiers hit, Gavaskar ramp shot over the third man was his favourite.

“We talk about the big sixes. There was one shot where he just opened the face of the bat and ramped the ball down to the third man. That was an incredible shot because it was hit literally at the last second when he opened the face of the bat,” he added.

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