IPL playerSouth Africa2008 to 2021
AB de Villiers
Right-hand bat
AB de Villiers, a wicketkeeper-batter, played fourteen IPL seasons for two franchises, and scored 5,181 runs, the 9th-most in IPL history. In fourteen seasons the title never came.
The arrival
AB de Villiers arrived through the auction: Delhi Daredevils paid ₹1.20 cr (US$300k), against a base price of ₹80 lakh, at the very first IPL auction.
That first season brought 6 matches and 95 runs. The best was still to come.
The peak
The high point with the bat was 2016, for Royal Challengers Bangalore: 687 runs at an average of 52.8, striking at 168.8 in a season when the league as a whole struck at 131.5, with 1 hundred and 6 fifties, and a highest score of 129 not out. There were six seasons of 400 runs or more in all (2009, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020).
Measured against the league around it, though, the most destructive season was 2013: 373 runs at a strike rate of 167.3, 46 runs per hundred balls quicker than the IPL as a whole that year.
Franchise by franchise
2008 to 2010, Delhi Daredevils. Bought at the 2008 auction for ₹1.20 cr. 28 matches and 671 runs.
2011 to 2021, Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bought at the 2011 auction for ₹4.95 cr. 155 matches and 4,510 runs.
2 spells with two franchises in all. The longest was with Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2011 to 2021.
How the runs came
Across the career, AB de Villiers struck at 151.9. The league around those same seasons, weighted by how much batting each one involved, struck at 128.4, so AB de Villiers scored about 24 runs per hundred balls faster than the typical batter of the time. 61% of the runs came in fours and sixes: 414 fours and 253 sixes, the 5th-most sixes in IPL history.
The ball-by-ball record adds the detail. 30.5% of the balls AB de Villiers faced were dot balls, a lower share than 94% of the 140 batters who have faced 500 balls or more in the IPL. A six came every 13.5 balls, and a four every 8.2.
The fielding record: 120 catches, 20 run-outs and 8 stumpings, the stumpings a reminder of the gloves.
At the auction
AB de Villiers went under the hammer twice. The highest price was ₹4.95 cr (US$1.10m), paid by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011. The price climbed with the reputation: ₹1.20 cr in 2008, ₹4.95 cr by 2011.
Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.
The legacy
On the all-time IPL lists, among 810 players, AB de Villiers finished 9th for runs, 19th for matches played, 5th for sixes and 1st for player-of-the-match awards.
Season by season
| Season | Team | M | Runs | HS | Avg | SR | 50/100 | Wkts | Econ | Best | Ct | POTM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Delhi Daredevils | 6 | 95 | 26* | 19.0 | 96.9 | 0/0 | – | – | – | 5 | ||
| 2009 | Delhi Daredevils | 15 | 465 | 105* | 51.7 | 131.0 | 3/1 | – | – | – | 13 | 2 | |
| 2010 | Delhi Daredevils | 7 | 111 | 45 | 15.9 | 93.3 | 0/0 | – | – | – | 6 | ||
| 2011 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 16 | 312 | 65 | 34.7 | 128.4 | 2/0 | – | – | – | 9 | 1 | |
| 2012 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 15 | 319 | 64* | 39.9 | 161.1 | 3/0 | – | – | – | 9 | 3 | |
| 2013 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 14 | 373 | 64 | 37.3 | 167.3 | 2/0 | – | – | – | 8 | 1 | |
| 2014 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 14 | 395 | 89* | 35.9 | 158.6 | 3/0 | – | – | – | 7 | 2 | |
| 2015 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 16 | 513 | 133* | 46.6 | 175.1 | 2/1 | – | – | – | 8 | 2 | |
| 2016 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 16 | 687 | 129* | 52.8 | 168.8 | 6/1 | – | – | – | 19 | 4 | |
| 2017 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 9 | 216 | 89* | 27.0 | 132.5 | 1/0 | – | – | – | 6 | ||
| 2018 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 12 | 480 | 90* | 53.3 | 174.6 | 6/0 | – | – | – | 6 | 3 | |
| 2019 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 13 | 442 | 82* | 44.2 | 154.0 | 5/0 | – | – | – | 6 | 2 | |
| 2020 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 15 | 460 | 73* | 46.0 | 158.6 | 5/0 | – | – | – | 11 | 3 | |
| 2021 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 15 | 313 | 76* | 31.3 | 148.3 | 2/0 | – | – | – | 15 | 2 |
Franchise journey
- Delhi Daredevils: 2008 to 2010
- Royal Challengers Bangalore: 2011 to 2021
Ball-by-ball detail
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Dot balls faced | 30.5% |
| Balls per four | 8.2 |
| Balls per six | 13.5 |
| Catches | 120 |
| Run-outs | 20 |
| Stumpings | 8 |
At the auction
| Auction | Set | Base price | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Set E | ₹80 lakh | Sold to Delhi Daredevils for ₹1.20 cr (US$300k) |
| 2011 | – | ₹1.80 cr | Sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for ₹4.95 cr (US$1.10m) |
Sources
- CricArcade IPL season statistics
- CricArcade IPL auction archive
- Kaggle IPL Complete Match Dataset 2008-2026, ball-by-ball, cross-checked against Cricsheet