AB de Villiers has made a shocking revelation about his international career that is surely going to surprise fans all over. The Proteas star was one of the most destructive batters, especially when it came to the shorter versions of the game. Ever since his international debut in 2004, the right-hander has slowly proven to the world why he is recognised as a great by the time he finished his career, which comprised 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is, where he amassed 8,765, 9,577 and 1,672 runs respectively. However, things were not particularly easy for him towards the latter stages of his career with him revealing that he played with a detached retina. ICC and CWI Delegates Conduct Second Round of Venue Inspections in West Indies and USA for Men's T20 World Cup 2024.

In an interview with Wisden, the former dynamic batter, commonly known by fans as Mr 360, said, "My youngster accidentally kicked me on my eye with his heel. I started really losing vision in the right eye. 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.” The Proteas great hung up his boots from international cricket in 2018 and retired from all forms of cricket in 2021 when he played his last match for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL. Cricket Australia Issues Apology for Racist Term Displayed on Scoreboard During Pakistan’s Warm-Up Test Against Prime Minister’s XI.

The 39-year-old also threw light on why he chose to not reverse his retirement from international cricket. Days before South Africa's squad for the 2019 World Cup was picked, Linda Zondi, who was the chief selector back then, learned about de Villiers being available for selection but later, the Proteas star was not picked as the team had already been chosen. Wisden quoted de Villiers saying, “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’.”

De Villiers nowadays, is seen speaking on TV shows and he also runs a YouTube channel of his own 'AB de Villiers 360' where he analyses the modern-day game and also engages with fans.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 07, 2023 08:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).