AB de Villiers, a batsman for South Africa, announced his retirement in 2021, but the 39-year-old recently said in an interview that he would aim to be the greatest and would enjoy rivalry with Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli if he were to return.
De Villiers was named one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the decade in 2019 and won the prestigious ICC One Day International Player of the Year award three times throughout his stellar 15-year international career.
Among De Villiers’ outstanding stats are his almost 8,000 Test match runs, which include 22 centuries and 46 fifty-pluses. Additionally, he amassed more than 9,000 runs in one-day internationals and more than 1,500 runs in the game’s shortest format, T20s.
Among his numerous outstanding accomplishments, the 39-year-old is the fastest hitter to score 50 runs (16 balls), 100 runs (31 balls), and 150 runs (64 balls) in One Day Internationals. He also holds the record for the fastest Test match hundred by a South African and the fastest T20 International 50 by a South African.
AB de Villiers recently stated in an interview with Jio Cinema, “Definitely. Still, I could perform. However, the drive is no longer present. Being the best is the only thing that matters. If I return, I’ll want to compete with Surya and Kohli and be the best possible.
“Towards the conclusion of my career, I obviously didn’t play enough cricket. I believe that was the primary factor. The careers of players will be extended by this Impact Player, which I know many people are happy about. I feel incapable of doing it. I couldn’t just play for two or three months a year because I want to be the best in the world, and playing for three months a year prevents you from becoming the best. Definitely not a chance. Yes. You have nine months to practise. But nothing, absolutely nothing, can compare to being in the real world and competing.
“So, being the best in the world when the fire went off, I felt like, what? How am I acting? So what precisely is happening right now? The past several years have also been difficult in that way. I thought, “You know what, I can still occasionally use my super knock, but I don’t want to.” I aspire to excellence,” he continued.
