Believe it or not, Mr. 360° aka AB De Villiers who is considered to be one of the destructive batsmen in the world left the whole cricketing world shocked on May 23 with his decision to hang up his boots from all the forms of International Cricket.
To those who don’t know, the South African talisman had made his international debut way back in 2004 against England at Bloemfontein in 2005. Since then, the 34-year-old cricketer has played in 123 Tests, 228 ODIs, and 78 T20Is and has even smashed 47 international centuries to make his nation proud.
Abraham Benjamin de Villiers who is known as the Superman of Cricket is the ultimate genius of the game redefining batting in every format. A real AB fan knows that his majestic shots can change the course of the match in a minuscule.
For all the fans, here’s is something for you to remember, a gravity-defying catch taken by ABD in IPL 2018.
Wtf…Meanwhile ur crush married another Man !
Ab De Villiers Retired….
AB de Villiers Retires.I don't see an old bone in this dude pic.twitter.com/kZu2VQ3T16
— K A K A (@royal_raa10) May 23, 2018
After giving a high-range performance in the 11th season of Indian Premier League, the Pretoria-born cricketer took to Twitter to announce his decision to quit from all forms of cricket on Wednesday. He said that he was tired and had run “out of gas” after playing for almost 14 years in international cricket.
Check out this video in which he clearly announces his retirement:
I’ve made a big decision today pic.twitter.com/In0jyquPOK
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) May 23, 2018
On his retirement, we would like to share his top 5 memorable ODI knocks:
1. 149 vs West Indies, Johannesburg, 2015
One must never deny such facts that this man possesses an enviable range of shots and can hit the ball to any part of the ground with ease. In January 2015, ABD displayed some astonishing batting skills as he hit the fastest 50 off just 16 balls. Well, it seemed that AB was in a dangerous mood that day as he smashed the fastest 100, off just 31 balls and helped his team to post 439 runs on the scoreboard.
?The Best Knock In ODI Cricket History ✌ @ABdeVilliers17 Fastest ODI Century 31 Balls & Finally 44 Balls 149 Runs Against Windies ?The Most Loved Gentleman Cricketer ❤ Mr.360° Retires ? Now.. saddest Day Of Cricket Fans ?? #MissYouABDeVilliers pic.twitter.com/ePNV1BYatH
— Nandha S Rohit (@NandhaP463) May 23, 2018
2. 112 vs India, Chennai, 2015
Playing against India in India is a tough business for any non-Asian giant. In October 2015 The proteas visited India and in one of the matches, MS Dhoni & Co. decided to test the patience of SA by scoring a challenging 299/8 on a sluggish Chennai track. Surprisingly, De Villers displayed courage and proved himself as the world-class batsman when he scored a century but unfortunately, Africa lost the match.
AB de Villiers' 112 can't prevent a 35 run win by India, who level the series 2-2! https://t.co/2m9fOwR4nG #IndvsSA pic.twitter.com/SZKKy7Adme
— ICC (@ICC) October 22, 2015
3. 162* vs West Indies, Sydney, 2015
It seems that AB De Villers is one of the greatest rivals of West-indies and if you can’t believe then watch this below video in which he has scored a massive 162 not out of just 66 balls and become the only batsman to score fastest 150. He smashed 17 fours and eight sixes to score 408/5, which is one of their highest world cup score.
66 balls
17 fours
8 sixes
162 not out!@ABDeVilliers17's finest innings?#ABRetires pic.twitter.com/1qOsHia5PT— ICC (@ICC) May 23, 2018
4. 136 vs Australia, Harare, 2014
Australians might be thinking what they have done wrong that they lost the match to SA even after posting a mammoth total of 327/7 in just 50 overs. Well, they committed the mistake of taking AB De Villers lightly as he smashed the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc to smash 136 off just 106 balls. AB was looking to furious to handle as the Proteas won the match with 20 balls to spare.
Proteas beat Australia by 7 wickets after brilliant knocks from @ABdeVilliers17 (136*) & @faf1307 (106) #SSCricket pic.twitter.com/aHV9k0aOqE
— SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) August 27, 2014
5. 103* vs Pakistan, Lahore, 2007
Very few can remember this innings as it was the time of Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir and it was not easy to defeat the Pakistanis in their den. Interestingly, AB De Villers came out as a ferocious lion and scored 103 not out off 95 balls as he along with Herschelle Gibbs batted Pakistan out of the game. Meanwhile, Makhaya Ntini 4 wickets as South Africa won the game by 45 runs.
@Nihal0541 @ABdeVilliers17 On this day in 2007 AB DE VILLERS scored hi 3rd ODI century against pakistan in LAHORE.. (103*of 95 balls).. ?️❤ pic.twitter.com/rWpmzURbZu
— Nihal Vishwakarma (@Nihal0541) October 18, 2017
There are many fabulous innings played by this man while these above 5 innings are counted among his best. Now as he has retired, we only can say Thank you AB De Villiers for entertaining us and we’re gonna miss you.