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AB De Villiers retired from international cricket in 2018 but continued to play franchise-based leagues globally, particularly in IPL.
New Delhi: Former South African captain AB de Villiers revealed that he played his last two years of cricket with a detached retina, an eye injury that he suffered not too long ago. Popularly known as ABD, the right-hander announced his international retirement in 2018 but continued playing in franchise leagues.
“My youngster accidentally kicked me on my eye with his heel. I started really losing vision in the right eye,” De Villiers revealed in an interaction with Wisden Cricket Monthly. “When I got the surgery done the doctor actually asked me, ‘How in the world did you play cricket like this?’. Luckily my left eye did a decent job for the last two years of my career.”
While he played T20 leagues all around the world, his stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League was a prominent one, particularly because of its brand vale. Ahead of 2019 World Cup in England, it was rumoured that he would make an international return.
However, De Villiers didn’t. “Covid certainly played a role, there’s no doubt about it. From an international perspective, that 2015 World Cup hurt big time. It took me a while to get over that and then, when I got back into the side and I was ready to commit.
“I didn’t feel the same culture that I really needed at that time. I often found myself thinking, I don’t know, eh? Could this be the end of my career? I didn’t even really want to play IPL or anything else. I got away from everything in 2018 and then decided to push one more time with a bit of Test cricket, to try and beat India and Australia over here, and then I’ll call it.
“I didn’t want any spotlight on me. I just wanted to say, ‘I had a great time, thank you very much’,” he added. Meanwhile, the South African was inducted into RCB’s Hall of Fame during, IPL 2023, along West Indies stalwart Chris Gayle.