Abraham Benjamin de Villiers was born on the 17th of February in 1984 at Pretoria in South Africa. He used to study in a public school Pretoria which was named as Afrikaanse Hoer Seunskool (Afrikaans school for boys which is also known as Affies). Even Jacques Rudolph and Faf du Plessis attended this school. He is a South African cricketer named the ICC ODI Player of the Year three times during the entire fifteen years of his international cricket career. ICC ODI Player of the Year is an annual award presented by the International Cricket Council to the best One Day International player since the year 2004. AB de Villiers was one of the five Wisden cricketers at the end of 2019 of the decade.
AB de Villiers is adored and loved by people all around the world as he inspires many people. Many people say that De Villiers has an aura as Sachin Tendulkar had in his playing days. The audience or his fans have given him names such as AB, ABD, Mr. 360, and Superman. Whenever he plays for RCB at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the fans chant for him which is now very common. AB de Villiers is often seen playing solely as a batsman, but initially, he began his international career as a wicketkeeper-batsman. There are many positions involved in the batting order, and he batted in most of them, especially in the middle order.
De Villiers is famously known as one of the most innovative and disruptive batsmen in the modern period. He is also noted for a range of unusual shots, especially behind the wicketkeeper. In 2004 he made his international debut by playing in a test match against England, and in 2005 he played his first ODI (One Day International). In 2006 he participated in his first Twenty20 International Cricket match. He is so talented to score over eight thousand runs in both Test Match and ODI (One Day International) match. He is also one of the very few batsmen on the entire planet to be having a batting average of fifty in both types of games. He holds a record of the player who made the fastest century in ODI in just 31 balls. Besides, he also has a history for the fastest ODI 50 and 150. He is popularly known as the attacking player in a limited over match.
AB de Villiers was once the South Africa team captain in all three formats, but unfortunately, after a few injuries, he had no choice but to step down from the Test Captaincy. In 2017 he had to step down from being a captain of the limited-overs teams. Similarly, in 2018 he announced his retirement from any international cricket games. Eventually, in January 2020, De Villiers announced his international comeback and told that he would be playing for South Africa in the 2020 T20 World Cup. As we all know how great of a cricketer he is, we must know some of the unknown facts that may or may not surprise you:
- AB de Villiers is definitely a sportsperson and an athlete, but you must know that he is the fastest person in the 100-meter race in South Africa Junior Athletics.
- AB de Villiers is fond of playing golf at certain levels.
- As we are talking about how talented the person is, we should also know that he is a rockstar. AB de Villiers has also had an interest in music. He has some great talent in music, which he showed in the albums that he released, for example, “Show Who You Are.”
- AB de Villiers was also once the captain of the South Africa junior rugby team.
- Before starting his cricket career, he was shortlisted for the national hockey team.
- AB de Villiers was also selected in the junior national football team.
- De Villiers represented South Africa’s Junior Davis cup tennis team.
- AB de Villiers is still known to be holding six South Africa swimming records in his school.
- Apart from cricket, AB de Villiers was also a champion in National Badminton Under-19 Tournament.
- AB de Villiers is also brilliant in his studies. He has also known to be receiving a national medal from the President Nelson Mandela at that time for the Science Project in his school days.
- AB de Villiers father is a doctor which resulted in De Villiers wanting to become a doctor. But eventually, the direction towards sports has made De Villiers a great cricketer.
- De Villiers has been interested and playing cricket since his childhood. Still, before making cricket career as his primary field, he also tried his hands in other sports and various games in which almost all of them he achieved success.
- AB de Villiers is famous for scoring the leading runs for South Africa in Cricket World Cup.
- AB de Villiers is one of the fastest players to reach 7000 runs in One Day Internationals (ODI).
- AB de Villiers holds the record for the fastest 50 runs in 16 balls, fastest 100 runs in 31 balls, and fastest 150 runs in 64 balls in One Day Internationals.
- People call him Mr. 360 because no matter where you bowl, he will smash it anywhere.
- He is the captain of the ODI team of South Africa.
- He is a wicketkeeper and has 185 and 145 dismissals in tests and one day.
- He is currently the number one batsman in ODI and tests cricket matches as he is dominating in the top 5 for years.
- He has scored 7000+ runs in one day and tests with an average of 51.xx in both.
- He holds a record of the second-highest individual score in tests by a South African Cricketer that is 278.
- In 2014 he was named ICC ODI Player of the Year.
- Even his teammate Dale Steyn, who is the best bowler, is afraid of bowling to him in the two IPL matches every year. He has compared him to Neo of Matrix.
- Even top bowlers in cricket haven’t yet figured out how to take AB de Villiers wicket within five balls in any game mode.
- AB de Villiers holds a record for the most sixes (37 sixes) in Cricket World Cup in company with Chris Gayle.
Locally de Villiers initially played for Northerns, making his introduction for the group in the 2003/2004 Supersport Series. The gathering converged with Easterns to shape the Titans side which de Villiers at that point played for in the 2004/2005 season. His worldwide obligations imply that he has played just at times for the side since 2005, making a sum of only nine top of the line, 20 rundown An and 24 Twenty20 appearances for the side.
Other than the IPL, de Villiers has played establishment T20 cricket for Barbados Tridents, Tshwane Spartans, Rangpur Riders and Lahore Qalandars in groups over the world. Following his retirement from worldwide cricket, his future in T20 establishment groups was dubious until he reported in July 2018 that he proposed to keep on playing in the IPL for a couple of years. In September 2019, he was named in the crew for the Tshwane Spartans group for the 2019 Mzansi Super League competition. For the 2019 arrangement, he spoke to Middlesex in the Vitality Blast Twenty20, giving both experience and an inconceivable measure of the capability to the crew. During the gathering stages, he had the most noteworthy batting ordinary. In October 2019, De Villiers had marked a one year manage the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League establishment which is held in Australia during summer.
During the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and following South Africa losing their initial three matches in the competition, subtleties arose of De Villiers making himself accessible for determination for the public group crew on the day the group was to be declared. He was not chosen as he had not played any global cricket for his nation paving the way to the competition, notwithstanding having been provoked to do as such by South Africa’s mentor Ottis Gibson prior in the year. He has been censured for his choice to play in establishment alliances instead of for his nation.
De Villiers proposed to his better half, Danielle Swart, at the Taj Mahal in 2012, following five years of dating. The couple got hitched in March 2013, in Bela-Bela, South Africa. They have two children. He is a passionate Christian and has expressed that his confidence is pivotal to his way to deal with life. He is additionally a cultivated guitar player and a vocalist. In 2010, he delivered a bilingual pop collection entitled Maak Jou Drome Waar with his companion and South African vocalist Ampie du Preez. His Autobiography was born in April 2020.
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