One of the greatest cricketers of his time, AB de Villiers is a name that terrorized opponent teams’ bowlers, no matter the format. Even after his international retirement, De Villiers played some extravagant knocks in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). However, the former South Africa star retired from professional cricket without winning a single IPL title. In today’s times, De Villiers’ style of play is often compared with India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav. During one such discussion, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar made a bold comment on De Villiers’ career.

Manjrekar, who is known to be quite blunt with his opinions and criticism, said that Suryakumar has already eclipsed De Villiers when it comes to the comparison of their match-winning impacts in the shortest format. Manjrekar, making a rather bold assessment, stressed that De Villiers played for the wrong IPL franchise.

“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,” he said on Star Sports.

Over the course of his IPL career, in which De Villiers played for two franchises — Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bengaluru – he scored a total of 5162 runs, of which 4491 came for RCB. he also scored two centuries and 37 fifties for the Bengaluru side.

De Villiers is also one of the only seven players to score more than 5000 runs in the T20 league.

Former Indian cricket team batter Sanjay Manjrekar weighed in on the 10-point guidelines issued by the BCCI following the humiliating Test series loss against Australia. Manjrekar namedrops legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and said that even he never needed a personal bodyguard while discussing the guideline that will not allow players to have their personal staff on tour. Manjrekar went on to compare Indian cricket with “mainstream Bollywood” and asked for it to be treated as a ‘sport’ only. “It’s almost sort of juvenile that the moment India loses 3-0 against New Zealand and in Australia, these things come up. I wish this was addressed while India was winning. It shouldn’t need a debacle of this kind for certain issues that particularly don’t go well with the team culture,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo Newsroom.

“This is one of the smaller reasons for what we saw at home against New Zealand and in Australia. This has to be the basic norm. That is how we played in our entire career. We were sharing rooms. Families used to come during the last two weeks of a tour,” he added.

“Sachin Tendulkar was a huge star in our days. He used to be with the team. He didn’t have a personal bodyguard travelling with the team. If you are with the team, there is obviously enough security there,” said Manjrekar.

“The culture that has crept into Indian cricket is a little similar to the culture we see in mainstream Bollywood. I wish after this, cricket and Indian cricket remain what it truly is: it’s sport,” he added.

“I have always felt as a professional, on shorter tours, it is better off with not having family there. However, the argument was made that players play so much cricket and travel around so much, which is a little unfair to players. But that situation is in the past now. Players take periodic breaks from cricket so they get to spend time with their families,” said Manjrekar.

“I am a big believer that players should be on their own. It’s a high-pressure job, a lot of tension, and I don’t think if you are taking your periodic breaks, family is coming on tours, it doesn’t help the team culture and the whole environment,” he added.

While most of India’s ICC Champions Trophy 2025 squad will be easy picks, some crucial areas continue to divide opinion among former cricketers, experts and fans. One of the contentious positions is the role of the wicket-keeper batter in Team India’s setup, with three top quality candidates for the role. KL Rahul has been the established wicket-keeper batter in ODIs for quite some time, while Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson are also very much in the mix. Now, Former India cricketers Sanjay Manjrekar and Sanjay Bangar have stirred debate by leaving out Pant from their 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy.

Pant returned to competitive ODI cricket only in 2024, when India toured Sri Lanka for a three-match series. However, neither Manjrekar nor Bangar were in favour of picking Pant.

“Pant was away from cricket for a long time. He did make a good return in T20Is and Test, but he never had that good form in ODI cricket. KL Rahul should be your first-choice keeper,” said former India batting coach Bangar, speaking on Star Sports, according to Hindustan Times.

Manjrekar batted for the selection of Sanju Samson over Rishabh Pant as India’s back-up wicketkeeper for the Champions Trophy.

“I have been a good believer in Samson. Yes he wasn’t scoring runs initially and maybe he isn’t a fit down the order. But if India want a big hitter for the last 10 overs, and I agree with Sanjay Bangar on Pant,” said Manjrekar.

Pant played only one of the three matches in the ODI series against Sri Lanka. Walking in to bat at No. 4, he failed to impress, scoring just six runs in nine balls.

On the other hand, Samson hasn’t helped his case either. Despite impressing in T20Is, Samson was left out of Kerala’s squad for India’s 50-over domestic tournament, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, because he did not attend a camp with the side.

A big question mark lies over who will be India’s captain the next time they play Test cricket (against England in June). While Rohit Sharma has suffered from poor form, he has not yet given up or been stripped off his Test captaincy. On the other hand, vice-captain pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has arguably been India’s best performer, and led the team in the only Test they won against Australia. In the mind of former India cricketer-turned-pundit Sanjay Manjrekar, there is only answer to the question.

“It’s a no-brainer for me. The next Test series is in England and Jasprit Bumrah has to be the Test captain,” Manjrekar said, speaking on ESPNcricinfo.

Manjrekar stated a multitude of reasons as to why Bumrah should be made the permanent Test captain.

“Rohit Sharma as a batter has not done enough considering the loss to NZ at home plus he opted out of the playing XI because he did not fit in. There are too many uncertainties around him and I think that Bumrah is at the top of his game. There was nothing in the Australia series that we saw that he is not captaincy material,” Manjrekar reasoned.

“Pick out your marquee series, and make Bumrah captain in those. When he is unfit or missing we will think about who will lead the team next,” said Manjrekar in a straightforward manner.

Bumrah’s stature as a leader has grown exponentially following the tour of Australia. Not only was he the captain in the only Test India won, Bumrah also led by example, taking 32 wickets in five Tests, and was awarded the ‘Player of the Series’ despite India losing 3-1.

Amidst the debate regarding India’s next Test captain, Bumrah is also reportedly set to be India’s vice-captain in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

As India’s tour of Australia concludes with a 1-3 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, pundits and fans have busy analysing the team’s performances and chart out the factors that led to the dismal show Down Under. One of the biggest reasons behind India’s series defeat, according to former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, was team selection. Manjrekar doesn’t feel an all-rounder like Washington Sundar warranted a place in the playing XI. With Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy also part of the XI as all-rounders Manjrekar doesn’t think head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Rohit Sharma got their selection calls right.

“It’s crazy when you think of an important place in that Indian Test XI in a marquee series. Barring that fifty, Washington Sundar hasn’t contributed with the bat much. I think he’s a highly talented bowler. But, he has a place when the pitch is turning overseas. And with Jadeja already there, Nitish Kumar Reddy as well, plus Washington Sundar as well. I thought his selection was a blunder on a pitch like this,” Manjrekar said in a chat on ESPNCricinfo.

Gavaskar also drew comparisons between India’s current Test squad and the last two which returned triumphant from Australia. In comparison to Gambhir and Rohit’s side, Manjrekar feels the selection on the last two tours was done on the basis of players’ primary skills and not what they could offer secondarily.

“The last two tours to Australia, India didn’t have a single player who was played because of his second skill. They always focused on his main skill and that was good enough to get him into the side. The other skill was a bonus. Here, I thought India went the England way, when England was not winning,” he further added.

Former Indian cricket team batter Sanjay Manjrekar said that retirement is a personal decision but the decision on whether Rohit Sharma will find a place in the India playing XI in the future or not will be decided by the selectors. Rohit opted out of the fifth Test match in Sydney following a dismal run of form and in a candid interview on Day 2 of the match, he addressed speculations about his future. In the interview, Rohit said that he will not be retiring anytime soon but Manjrekar pointed out that there is no guarantee that he will find a place in the side if his form does not improve in the future.

“But there was also another reason why he was doing that interview. To clear the air. Somewhere I think Gambhir was getting all the credit for a brave call by leaving Rohit Sharma out. He wanted to set the record straight. Let’s be honest,” Manjrekar said after the encounter.

“I loved that interview. That first bit where he said, I couldn’t have another out-of-form batter in the XI, and that’s why he opted out. But there were some other emotions too.”

“One thing that a lot of players say is that ‘I will decide my future’. I have a problem with that. You can decide your future with regards to retirement, but somebody else has got the job to decide your future as a player and captain.”

“That’s the chairman of selectors. You have got to respect the hierarchy, however big you are. If the chairman of selectors is strong and he believes in the long-term health of Indian cricket, he has the power to decide whether your career should end now, or you get a few more matches, or one more series.”

“Retirement is in your hands, but playing for India is not,” he added.