AB de Villiers of South Africa and former Proteas captain, has retired from all cricket. Picture: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images
South African cricketing great and former captain AB de Villiers has announced his retirement from the game.
The 37-year-old, who played T20, ODI and Test cricket for South Africa, made the announcement on social media on Friday.
De Villiers said, “It has been an incredible journey … ever since the backyard matches with my brothers.”
READ HIS FULL STATEMENT HERE:
De Villiers retired from international cricket a few years ago, and in recent times only played T20 cricket, in various leagues around the world. Despite calls from the public that he should be part of the Proteas team that played at the recent T20 World Cup, De Villiers was overlooked.
The former batsman, who went by the nickname “Mr 360” for his ability to play shots all around the crease, retires having scored 8765 Test runs at an average of 50.66, 9577 ODI runs at 53.50 and 1672 T20 runs at 26.12 and strike rate of 135.
Indian Premier League team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, for whom De Villiers played, said it was the “end of an era” and called the batsman a “legend”.