AB de Villiers is arguably the best T20 batter of all time. The former Proteas skipper gave it all for his country and was always at his best when it came to representing the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
The batter decided to call it quits on international cricket in 2018 but continued to play for the RCB until the 2021 edition of the IPL. However, de Villiers has revealed that it wasn’t due to fitness or his lack of desire but rather an accident at home that curtailed his 10-year career with the franchise.
While talking with Wisden, AB de Villiers revealed that the reason behind his leaving RCB was a freak eye injury.
“My youngster accidentally kicked me on my eye with his heel. I started really losing vision in the right eye., the batter said, explaining how he injured his eye.
Despite a near-career-ending injury, AB decided to soldier on and did his best for RCB in the last seasons of the franchise.
“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.” AB de Villiers concluded.
Why did AB de Villiers not return to international cricket?
AB also revealed the reason behind his not taking a U-turn on his retirement. The modern great claimed that the 2015 World Cup and the COVID-19 pandemic played a big role in his leaving and deciding not to come back.
“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’.” AB de Villiers said.
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