AB de Villiers reveals shocking story of playing two years with 'special' physical condition

AB de Villiers recently disclosed to Wisden Cricket Monthly that he played the final two years of his career with a detached retina. Despite retiring from international cricket in May 2018, he continued participating in franchise-based Twenty20 leagues, notably for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

There was speculation about a potential international comeback, especially for the 2019 World Cup, but de Villiers stuck to his decision. Over two years after his last professional match at the 2021 IPL, he shared with Melinda Farrell about an eye injury he suffered shortly before retiring.

“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.”

'I didn’t even really want to play IPL or anything else' - AB de Villiers

De Villiers also elaborated on the reasons behind his decision not to come out of international retirement. “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," he said

“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',” the Protea great added.