{"id":486166,"date":"2026-03-20T17:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486166\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T17:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:01:11","slug":"i-feel-embarrassed-ab-de-villiers-rips-into-ipl-openers-stat-comparison-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486166\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I feel embarrassed’: AB de Villiers rips into IPL openers, stat comparison | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'I Former South Africa superstar AB de Villiers<\/a> has delivered a brutally honest take on IPL<\/a> batting comparisons, openly expressing his frustration with how stats are used, especially when comparing middle-order players to openers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt Irritates the Living Daylights Out of Me\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on Mbangwa Media Youtube channel De Villiers didn\u2019t hold back while addressing comparisons with top IPL run-scorers:\u201cSo I hate it when they compare my runs to other players in the IPL, because then I go like, but I haven\u2019t faced as many balls as the openers. It irritates the living daylights out of me.\u201d\u201cThis guy scored 8,000 runs, he\u2019s the best ever. I\u2019m like, no, I\u2019m better than him he\u2019s faced more balls. Don\u2019t do it.\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Watch<\/p>\n

IPL 2026 should be audition for the next India T20I captain <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the Easiest Thing in the World\u201d<\/p>\n

The former RCB legend took aim at the advantage openers enjoy in T20 cricket: \u201cAnd then on top of that, they\u2019re all openers and they bat with these restrictions only two guys out, and it\u2019s like, it\u2019s the easiest thing in the world, especially in India. It\u2019s ridiculous, man. You can\u2019t play cricket like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t Compare My Stats With Openers\u201d<\/p>\n

De Villiers questioned the fairness of comparing players across batting positions: \u201cBut then don\u2019t compare my stats now that I know that, with everybody. They\u2019re all openers, all the main top run-scorers, the Orange Caps they have. Do you know why it irritates me?\u201d de Villiers saidHe even suggested tweaking the fielding restrictions in the powerplay:\u201cAt the very least, okay, with a new ball, when the ball\u2019s pinging and flying, at the very least just have your fielding restrictions taken away in the first six overs, T20s in India short boundaries, great wickets. The advantage is the new ball already. It\u2019s flying. It\u2019s already too easy. Don\u2019t just have two fielders out of the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfair to Bowlers\u201d<\/p>\n

The Proteas legend highlighted how bowlers are often at a disadvantage: \u201cBut I do feel it\u2019s a bit unfair to the bowlers in the IPL, the first six overs. Forget about the stats and me being me. It\u2019s just a tough watch.\u201dDe Villiers pointed out how even mistimed shots can bring boundaries: \u201cVery often, they play bad strokes and get rewarded for it, your sliced ball that you didn\u2019t hit in the area you wanted to\u2026 and you still get four.\u201dUsing Travis Head as an example, he said: \u201cNow it\u2019s like Travis Head, it\u2019s just flying everywhere. Inside edge four, outside edge four. Good shot, six, great, but it\u2019s one out of three.\u201d\u201cWhat is that? 33% strike and you\u2019re on 15 off four balls.\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Feel Embarrassed\u201d<\/p>\n

De Villiers revealed his own mindset when scoring lucky boundaries: \u201cHonestly, when I hit an inside edge for four, I feel embarrassed, I even sometimes apologise to bowlers, I swear because I feel like that\u2019s not right, now these openers, just runs everywhere. New ball flying. It bothers me.\u201d\u201cWhy do you think some captains, at the back end of their careers, promote themselves to open the batting in T20 cricket?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGive Me a Chance Up Front\u201d<\/p>\n

De Villiers ended with a pointed remark about his own batting position: \u201cI got demoted to five at the back end of my career. I\u2019m like, what do you got? because I\u2019m a good finisher? No, give me a chance as well with a new ball up front.\u201d<\/p>\n

AB de Villiers In IPL <\/p>\n

AB de Villiers enjoyed a remarkable IPL career, scoring 5162 runs in 184 matches at an impressive average of 39.70 and a blistering strike rate of 151.68, including 3 centuries and 40 half-centuries, with a highest score of 133*. What makes his numbers even more special is the context unlike most top run-scorers, de Villiers primarily batted in the middle order, often at No. 3 to 5, and still managed to dominate attacks with 251 sixes and over 400 fours.\"Banner<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former South Africa superstar AB de Villiers has delivered a brutally honest take on IPL batting comparisons, openly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[23786,172384,172388,1721,17779,172385,101,172386,172387,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-486166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-ab-de-villiers","tag-ab-de-villiers-ipl-stats","tag-bowling-disadvantages-in-ipl","tag-cricket","tag-ipl","tag-ipl-openers-comparison","tag-sports","tag-t20-cricket-batting-positions","tag-travis-head-t20-performance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}