Johannesburg: Star South African batsman AB de Villiers shocked the cricketing world by the sudden announcement of his retirement from the game on November 19, 2021. De Villiers, who remains a big name in world cricket recently opened up on his decision of retirement. Reckoning that he had sort of made up his mind during the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Villiers said that cricket has always been a pleasure for me. But living in a bio bubble separate from the family for a long time during the IPL made this very complicated. Notably, IPL 2021 took part in two parts, with the first half played in India before it was temporarily suspended due to COVID-19. The season resumed after six months in the UAE, and AB de Villiers mentioned, it took a toll on him, more mentally than physically.
“Cricketing wise, it has been coming for quite some time, it’s always been about enjoyment for me. And the minute where I felt the difficulty of travelling and being there at the IPL for two and half to three months a year, specifically with this one that was spilt into two, bubbles and this and that made things very complicated with regards to cricket and the enjoyment thereof,” De Villiers was quoted as saying in a chat with TimesLive.
The 37-year-old Mr 360 has expressed his desire to be associated with cricket and shared that it was always the love towards the game that drove him to play so far and perform well and the moment he realised it was no longer the same, was the time de Villiers felt the right time to go.
“I found myself on the park where scoring runs and doing well for the team didn’t really match with everything that goes with it anymore and that is where the balance started leading towards hanging my gloves up. I have never been the guy who is going to push every single bit of energy of my ability and my cricketing skill, I have always played for the enjoyment of the game. And the minute that sort of started going down, I knew it was time for me to move on,” De Villiers concluded.
De Villiers last played for South Africa in the Johannesburg Test against Australia in March 2018. He played one season in the Big Bash League for Brisbane Heat and played for IPL RCB till 2021. This season has not been good for him. He scored 313 runs in 15 matches at an average of 31.3, his lowest since 2017. However, he ended his career as the sixth highest run-scorer in the league. He has 5162 runs in 184 matches including three centuries and 40 fifties under his name.
