Cricket lovers, the world over, have been left heartbroken after Proteas’ cricket star, AB de
Villiers announced his retirement from international cricket. Posted via his
Twitter account, de Villiers made said he is retiring with immediate effect.
“After 114 test matches, 228 One Day internationals and 78 T20 internationals –
it is time for others to take over,” de Villiers said.
The video, which was retweeted 53 000 times and watched by
almost one and half a million people, led to a flood of tributes from fans and
cricketers alike, who all adored the blonde-haired cricket star for the massive
contribution that he made to South African cricket.
De Villiers made his international debut in the Test series
against England in 2004 and played in a limited-overs match a year later.
He scored 8,765 Test runs for South Africa and has a batting
average of over 50 in both Test and ODI cricket.
De Villiers’ 22nd – and final – Test century came against
Australia in March.
A former Test captain, he holds the record for the fastest
one-day century, reaching three figures in just 31 balls against West Indies in
January 2015.
He also holds the record for the fastest Test century by a South
African, making 100 from 75 balls against India in 2011.
His final appearance for South Africa came in Johannesburg,
where the Proteas beat Australia by 492 runs and clinched the series 3-1.
He kept wicket on occasion and recently featured for Royal
Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
De
Villiers added in his video message that he has “no plans” to play overseas,
and he hopes to continue to be available for domestic cricket in South Africa.
Goans fans also pay their
tributes to AB de Villiers, the man who made the impossible look easy and set
tournaments ablaze with his scintillating batting
First
Brendon McCullum and now AB de Villiers. This is so sad and shocking. These
guys are the modern day greats and the legends of our time. They changed the
way matches are played across all formats with their aggression and what’s sad
is that ABD could have still played so much more.
NATHAN
DIAS
The
Sachin Tendulkars’ and the Brian Laras’ of the previous generation took their
time to leave the game and perhaps we expected the same of the players to come.
The world of cricket will be a great loss. You get these type of players,
match-winners once in a lifetime and he should not have retired so early.
RYAN
FERNANDES
There
have been some historic run chases that ABD has been part of. There have been
games where the match is over before the second team bats because of the kind
of knocks he has played. These kind of performances were unprecedented and
record breaking. This news is yet to sink in.
SANKET
DESSAI
He
was one of the international stars who was a hit in India and he enjoyed great
rapport with Indian players such as Virat Kohli etc. Sometimes people would
watch the game to see him bat. Besides being regarded as one of the game’s
greatest batsman, he was a fantastic team player and captain!
RAJ
NAIK
