Shoaib Akhtar made a huge prediction 14 years back about this South African legend

Pakistan legend Shoaib Akhtar revealed that in 2008, he predicted AB de Villiers’s greatness in coming years for South African cricket. During that time, Both were part of the Indian T20 Leauge as Akhtar was representing Kolkata and de Villiers was the part of the Delhi franchise.

During an interview session with Sportskeeda, the former Pakistan pacer told that he got introduced to him in the inaugural edition of that T20 tournament. Then only, he told De Villiers that he will become the future leader of the South African team.

“Fortunately, whenever I faced him I managed to dismiss him” – Shoaib Akhtar

Akhtar said: “I met him back in 2008. It was at a function, at a private ceremony. And I told him that he is a great player and asked him to get prepared to captain the South African team. I told him that he would become one of the greatest players ever,”

He also shared that he was quite fortunate to dismiss him four times. Akhtar added: “Fortunately, whenever I faced him I managed to dismiss him and at times I even felt that I could dismiss him easily. Then when he came to Indian T20 League, he tried to play the pull shot, but I knew that he would be late because there was a lot of pace on my delivery.”

Former Pakistan pacer also said he was quite angry when the South African batter announced his retirement from all formats of the game. “And that is exactly what happened. He said on Twitter that he is still having nightmares. I was sad and angry when he announced his retirement,” Akhtar concluded.

Speaking about AB de Villiers’s career, he became a legend for his Bangalore franchise since he joined them back in 2011. Across all formats, he played 484 International innings where he managed to score 20014 runs at an average of 48.14. Even, as a leader, he guided his nation to the semi-final of the 50-over World Cup in 2015.