‘AB bolta hain toh sabh sunte hain’- Fans react to AB de Villiers’ ‘I could still play cricket’ comment

Former South African captain AB de Villiers may have retired from international cricket to become a broadcaster and expert, but his supporters still want to see him on the field hitting balls out of the park. After retiring from international cricket in 2018, he continued his Indian Premier League (IPL) career with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) till 2021.

Mr 360, represented South Africa in 114 Tests and 228 ODIs, amassing 8765 and 9577 runs, respectively. He scored 5162 runs in 184 IPL games, including three centuries and 40 half-centuries. De Villiers recently told news agency IANS that he could still play the game and will compete to be the greatest of Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli.

I could still play: AB de Villiers

The former Proteas captain said, “Definitely. I could still play. But the drive is not there anymore. It’s always just about being the best. I want to be the best if I come back and I’ll want to compete with Surya and Kohli. I definitely didn’t play enough cricket towards the back end of my career. I think that was the main thing. With this Impact Player, I know a lot of people are celebrating it, it’s going to lengthen the careers of players. To me, I could never do that. I could never just play two or three months of the year because I want to be the best in the world, and you can’t do that if you play for three months of the year. Absolutely no chance.”

He added, “Yes, you can practice for nine months. But nothing, nothing compares middle practice with being out there and competing. So, the minute that fire went off being the best in the world, I felt like, what? What am I doing? So, what exactly is going on now? So was tough the last few years in that regard as well. I felt like, you know what, I can still have my super knock here and there, but I don’t want to do that. I want to be the best.” It will be interesting to see whether the former RCB batter will return to the ground or not.

Here’s how fans reacted

Bhai t20 me to apna best player he abhi

— Nakshatra Sharma (@nakshatra_007) July 4, 2023

Well, for someone who had a dream to win the World Cup, why didn't Kohli himself score a century to win the match. He got out on 1, so if anyone has to be blamed it is Kohli , not Dhoni. It was because of Jadeja and Dhoni, we at least competed in that match

— Black Rabbit (@Originally_not) July 4, 2023

You are already the best

— Shekhar Chatterjee (@AKAshekhar) July 4, 2023

bruh your competitors would be Kohli,Smith,root not sky 😭

— vp (@_ackkerman) July 4, 2023

He was tired of being Trophy-Less in each Tournament He Played so early retirement made sense .

— Junaid Khan (@JunaidKhanation) July 4, 2023

https://twitter.com/immTonyStark/status/1676080180425797632?s=20

Chokli is not even 0.000000001 % of ABD.

— Nisha  (@NishaRo45_) July 4, 2023

He knows sky is better than him that's why he retired 👀

— Soldy (@Samsoldy) July 4, 2023