Crazy about cricket? So are most of the Indians out there. Cricket is a sport that you might enjoy, and if you do, the name of AB De Villers might sound familiar. The fantastic batsman from the South African Cricket team has called it quits and wants to retire from all of the three formats. The man who resides in the hearts of millions of his followers, will now only play for leagues.
AB De Villers or as people like to call him, Mr. 360 has played in 114 Test matches and held a world record for fastest 150, 100 and a half- centuries in ODIs. Let’s look at five of the most scintillating knocks of the batsman during his 14-year-old long career.
33 V Australia – 2nd Test, Adelaide 2012
Although 33 might not seem a big of a number, there is a particular reason why it is one of the most exciting matches in his career. The debut match for Faf du Plessis, where is scored 110 might be considered the man of the game, but it was AB De Villers strokeless and stubborn 33, which helped them to achieve a draw at the end.
He spent almost four hours on the pitch and curbed his instincts to play defensive.
126 V Australia – 2nd Test, Port Elizabeth, 2018
AB De Villers is a tremendous Contributor when it comes to this win for the South African Cricket team. The man scored 427 runs and had an average score of 71.16 during the whole series. This match is a silver lining to his career because it gave the Proteas an upper hand. Not only that, but he went on to score 3 more half-centuries for the Proteas.
149 V West Indies – 2nd ODI, Johannesburg, 2015
This match turned out to be spectacular for AB De Villers as the man scored 149 out of just 44 balls. He hit around 16 sixes and held a record for most ever hit sixes in ODI cricket history. Mr. 360 scored a century in that match out of 16 balls only. By 31
169 V Australia – 3rd Test, Perth 2012
De Villers played exceptionally well in this match which was the deciding match for the series. He was successful in making a score of 169 out of just 184 balls. After helping the Proteas to draw in the second test, the performance of this batsman enabled them to win the series. What makes this match even more memorable is the fact that anyone did not expect the performance of this batsman. De Villers had been wicket keeping during the whole series, and this was his moment to shine.
278 V Pakistan – 2nd Test, Abu Dhabi, 2010
This was a record-breaking match for De Villers as he broke the record of Gramme Smith and became the highest South African Scorer in Test Cricket. The game ended in a draw, but he was on the crease for 10 hours straight. As Proteas declared 584/9, the man had scored 278.
Cricket is not just a sport, but it is a passion that is present in the hearts of sportsmen such as AB De Villers, isn’t it? Deciding to retire at the peak of his career, he has taken a wise decision to go down in the history of cricket as one of the best batsman ever. Don’t you think?