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AB de Villiers retired from all forms of cricket in November 2021 and shocked Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fans. This is going to be the first Indian Premier League (IPL) season since the inaugural season in 2008 where De Villiers will not be a part of the cash-rich league. However, there is one IPL record that Mr. 360 currently holds which is unlikely to be broken this season.
The former South Africa skipper has 25 ‘player of the match’ awards to his name in IPL which is by far the highest in the history of the league. The next player on the list is Chris Gayle. However, Gayle did not give his name for the mega IPL auction despite not retiring from the format. The self-proclaimed Universe Boss has won the ‘player of the match’ award 22 times.
From the current lot, there are three batters who can break De Villiers’ record in the future. However, breaking it in this season will require a herculean effort from them. Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma has won the award 18 times in his career followed by Delhi Capitals (DC) opener David Warner and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who have bagged the award 17 times each.
The top 10 includes two more current players. Former RCB skipper Virat Kohli and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) new recruit Ajinkya Rahane have won it 13 and 12 times respectively.
Warner is set to miss the first few matches as he will be unavailable for the first week. This will be a big blow for DC who roped him in for Rs 6.25 crore as their first choice opener alongside Prithvi Shaw. Also, it will mean that the Australian opener will have lesser chances to deliver impact performances.
Rohit is the closest but needs eight outstanding performances to surpass the former RCB batter. Like De Villiers, Rohit has also been part of the IPL since the inaugural season. On the other hand, MS Dhoni bats down the order and does not get enough opportunities to get big runs under his belt.
