Former South African captain AB de Villiers has revealed that he played with an eye problem for the last two years of his career. The doctor was startled to see the keeper-batter play with just his left eye, according to the keeper-batter.
De Villiers played in the Indian Premier League till 2021, although he announced his retirement from international cricket in 2018. The 39-year-old faced the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2021 edition playoffs, an encounter that RCB lost. It was his final IPL match.
In an interview with The Wisden, the great cricketer discussed how his eye impairment affected his career.
“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.”
AB de Villiers
In addition to being an international standout, the right-hander boasts exceptional IPL stats. De Villiers scored 5162 runs in 184 games with a strike rate of 151.69% and an average of 39.71.
“That 2015 World Cup hurt big time” – AB de Villiers
De Villiers went on to say that things had changed since the 2015 World Cup semifinal loss and that he didn’t sense the same culture.
“Covid certainly played a role. There’s no doubt about it. From an international perspective, that 2015 World Cup hurt big time.
“It took me a while to get over that, and, then, when I got back into the side and I was ready to commit, I didn’t feel the same culture that I really needed at that time.”
AB de Villiers
The veteran opined that the Test series victories against India and Australia in 2018 were particularly memorable:
“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’.”
AB de Villiers
In the near future, the former South African captain will most likely join the RCB coaching staff.