What do I even begin with? The superhuman skills of Abraham Benjamin de Villiers or his human side or the long hours we spent on tours discussing almost everything under the sun. To be honest, the news completely surprised me, although he had been hinting at retirement for some time now. But this is what Abbas is all about. Selfless and committed to the core when it comes to the Proteas. I can understand where his decision comes from. It is not easy to be an international cricketer, especially in the modern era, playing all three formats and T20 leagues around the world.
It is a tough task, especially if you happen to be a player like AB, who is one of the most sought-after names, and every team wants a piece of him. But what a career he has had. Phew! I first heard of AB when he was making runs for fun in school cricket in Pretoria. He used to make headlines even as a 15-year-old. I still remember, ahead of a club match, Hash (Hashim Amla) warned our teammates about facing Abbas. Nobody took him for granted even then, but our bowlers were pumped up to see the back of him. We had AB’s team in tatters and I was having one of those good days, where everything coming out of my hand was landing wherever I intended. Even Faf (du Plessis) couldn’t contribute much on that pitch, but AB, over the next couple of hours or so, changed everything.
While most players preferred to go on the defensive on a pitch that was doing all sorts of things, Abbas always had this intention to attack. It didn’t change at any level and those were traits that made him very, very special. It takes lot of courage to take on the bowlers when they have their noses in front, and Abbas always seems to like those situations more than anyone else. Even during the recent series against India and Australia, he responded with onslaughts not many could have produced under the circumstances. Looking back, I’m not completely surprised how his career panned out.
From the time he made it to the Titans side, where we had a helluva time, each of us had aspirations to don the Protea hat. And there were many in that group, including the Morkel brothers, but Abbas saw it as a challenge. He always wanted to be the best, wanted to play against and challenge the best. It was what he preached even as a captain and senior player during tough tours of India, England and Australia. He wanted to come out best and if you see some of our incredible wins overseas, his contributions were immense. Everybody speaks about his strokemaking, the kind of shots that he played all around the wicket, but little has been known about how he made them possible.
At the start of his Test career, he struggled quite a bit. He was always looking to play shots and be more attacking. But there was a period when his career was at crossroads. That is when he put his head down and decided to work on his technique. He was a very tough bloke thanks to the time he spent in the school hostel, but his technique needed a bit of improvement.
He reached out to Jacques Kallis asking if he could help with his defence and with the likes of Hash, Biff (Graeme Smith) around, he worked really hard at the nets. Sometimes, even after a lot of us were done for the day. He knew that if he had defensive shots, bowlers would struggle to get him out and for us to see him defy world-class attacks and earn a draw when defeat was the only result possible, it showed how much he evolved as a player. He was a class apart. He has hung his boots now. I can’t believe he will not touch the bat again. It will be tough. But with Danielle (wife) and kids around, he would feel a lot more relaxed. (The writer is a former South Africa spinner and teammate of AB de Villiers)
IT WAS COMING
Going by what De Villiers had been saying, this is not out of the blue. Handed Test captaincy in
2016, he never led the team for over a year as he was plagued by injuries. In 2017, he ruled himself
out of Tests and returned in time for the fourday Test against Zimbabwe. He followed up with
stellar series against India and Australia. During 2017 Champions Trophy he revealed winning the
World Cup was his ultimate dream, but made a u-turn recently, “I’ve changed my mindset.
I feel it will be nice to win it, it’ll be a bonus. But if I don’t, it’s not going to define my career.”