Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers has revealed that he played the last two years of his career with an eye problem. The Proteas great explained how one of his sons kicked him in the eye and hurt him.

Ab de Villiers was arguably one of the best batsmen to play for South Africa. Not many could do what he achieved in his career and it is fair to say that he changed the dynamics of modern cricket with the type of cricket he played.

However, he brought many to tears when he announced his international retirement in 2018. After that, Ab de Villiers continued to play for the cricket franchise. The batsman was the heart and soul of RCB and he played a magnificent brand of cricket during the period he was with them.

In a shocking revelation, AB de Villiers revealed that he played the last two years of cricket with a detached retina. He explained how even the doctors were surprised after his surgery. Speaking to Wisden Cricket Monthly, he said:

“My son accidentally kicked me in the eye with his heel. I started to lose a lot of vision in my right eye. When I had the operation, the doctor asked me, ‘How the hell did you play cricket like this?’ Luckily, my left eye did a decent job during the last two years of my career.”

It’s fair to say that with the kind of display he put on in the last two years of his career, it didn’t look like he had an eye problem. The batsman set the IPL scene on fire for RCB and ended up as one of the league’s greats. He finished his T20 career with a strike rate of 9,424 runs of 150.13 in 320 innings. His tally of 9,424 runs also includes four centuries and 69 fifties.

I didn’t feel the same culture – Ab de Villiers on his international retirement

AB de Villiers also spoke about his decision to retire from international cricket and revealed why he didn’t reverse it.

He also admitted that he was completely devastated after the 2015 World Cup and that he didn’t get the culture he wanted in the team after that. He added that he strived to play tests against Australia and India as his last international cricket match.

“Covid certainly played a role, there is no doubt about it. From an international perspective, the 2015 World Cup hurt a lot. It took me a while to get over that and then when I got back on the side and was ready to commit, I didn’t feel the same culture that I really needed at that time.

“I often found myself thinking, I don’t know, huh? Could this be the end of my career? I didn’t really even want to play IPL or anything else. I stepped away from it all in 2018 and then decided to push myself once again with a bit of Test cricket, to try and beat India and Australia here, and then I’ll call it off. I didn’t want anyone to focus on me. I just wanted to say, ‘I had a great time, thank you very much.'”

In 420 international matches, AB de Villiers amassed 20,014 runs and 47 centuries.