On the 15th anniversary of the first Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction, the tournament’s official broadcaster, Star Sports, organised a special award ceremony in which it recognised various top performers from the previous 15 years for their outstanding performances in the cash-rich league. The special “Incredible Premier League” awards were organised by Star Sports and ESPN Cricinfo, and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who has won a total of six IPL titles, including five as captain of the Mumbai Indians, was elected as the Incredible Captain over the likes of the legendary MS Dhoni.
While his Mumbai Indians teammate and star pacer Jasprit Bumrah bagged the Incredible Bowler award, what came as a surprise was the selection of the Incredible Batter. Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli, who is the leading run scorer in the tournament’s history, wasn’t selected for the top prize, nor were Rohit or Chris Gayle. Instead, Ab De Villiers, who is Virat’s former teammate at the Royal Challengers Bangalore team, took the top prize.
The former South African international is among the greatest batters who have played in the cash-rich league. He started his career with the Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) before joining Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2011, where he played until 2021. The right-handed batter played a total of 184 matches in which he scored 5162 runs at an average of 39.70 and a strike rate of 151.68. De Villiers has three centuries and 40 fifties to his name. In the list of leading run scorers in IPL history, he sits at No. 6, behind Virat Kohli (6624), Shikhar Dhawan (6244), David Warner (5881), Rohit (5879), and Suresh Raina (5528).
During his 14-year association with the league, De Villiers did take part in many memorable matches but was never able to win the top prize. He played in two finals (2011 and 2016) with RCB but ended on the losing side on both occasions.
