AB de Villiers was back to batting at No. 4 for Royal Challengers Bangalore for their IPL 2021 game against Delhi Capitals on Friday but prior to the match, Sunil Gavaskar was not happy seeing the champions batsman bat lower down the order for Royal Challengers Bangalore, believing that Mr. 360 degree should bat at a position no lower than No. 5.

The batting position of de Villiers has been a highly-debatable topic. In the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the topic gained even more attention when RCB sent one of their biggest match-winners and game changers at No. 6 as they failed to chase down a target of 142 runs.

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RCB have used the likes of Srikar Bharat, and Glenn Maxwell ahead of de Villiers but against SRH, Dan Christian was sent in at 3, automatically pushing everyone a spot lower. Gavaskar was not pleased with the move, and felt that a destructive batsman like de Villiers needs to bat higher for RCB.

“He is so beautiful to watch. He is such a wonderful player. Such an innovative player, Mr. 360. You have someone like a Srikar Bharat batting at No. 3 or four. Come on. I mean, big respect to him; he is a promising young cricketer but this is his first big time. And he obviously has not gotten into the flow of things,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

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Against SRH, de Villiers faced only 13 balls and failed to hit 13 off the last over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and although RCB have already made it to the Playoffs, the decision to leave de Villiers pull off that equation did not go down well. Meanwhile, Bharat had a match to remember against the Capitals. Batting at No.3, Bharat scored an unbeaten 78 off 52, including hitting a six off the last ball to win RCB the game by seven wickets.

“How can you have AB de Villiers batting at No. 6. He has to bat four, or he has to bat 5. Ideally at 4. Maxwell should be at 3. After that, everyone else comes in is what I feel,” the former India captain added.