Former South African captain AB de Villiers has claimed that the pressures were unbearable when he decided to quit the international cricket.
After spending 14 years in the international cricket as the top quality South African cricketer, the 34-year-old suddenly announced his retirement from the international cricket in last April. At the retirement time, he was the most important player of his national team.
Talking about his retirement decision, AB de Villiers told ‘The Independent’ newspaper, “It’s been unbearable at times: the pressure you have to face, performing day in and day out. The expectations that you put on yourself, from fans, from the country, from coaches. It is huge, and it’s something that’s on your mind all the time as a cricketer.”
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In his 14 years international career, the right-handed stylish batsman played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is where he scored 8,765 runs (average 50.66), 9,577 runs (average 53.50) and 1,672 runs (average 26.12).
AB said in the interview that he is happy with his retirement decision as he has no regrets on that.
AB said on that, “I know nothing will compare to that feeling of scoring hundreds in a big game. Thousands of people chanting your name. But in all fairness, it’s definitely something that I’m not going to miss. Not yet. I’m very happy to have stepped away. Absolutely no regrets.”
AB has accepted that he gets relief from the huge pressure in the international cricket after the retirement. He also claimed that every player feels this pressure in his international career.
The Protease added, “Massively. Yes. I know the right answer is probably to say I will always miss the game. But I truly believe that players who tell you they don’t feel the pressure of international cricket, being away from home for months at a time, are lying to everyone and themselves.”
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AB de Villiers claimed that those pressures made him felt so tired that he hardly kept fresh himself.
The former Protease captain said, “I was prepared to embrace it, to fight the pressure. And I’m happy that I did. But it certainly takes his toll after a while. I feel there is room for players to be more honest about it, having systems in place to make sure they keep fresh and mentally healthy. I was certainly not mentally ill at the time, but I can relate to the fact that pressure can really drive you down, and make you so tired.”
While AB reveals that he is a shy person and doesn’t like the spotlight but the situation changed when he took the captaincy role.
He said, “I’ve always been shy. I don’t really like attention too much. It’s quite ironic. But I get embarrassed quite a bit. I prefer to be out of the spotlight, to be honest. I’ve always been that kind of personality. When I became captain of the Protease, things changed a bit. But I’ve always enjoyed having some personal time away from the game. Those are the kinds of things I really enjoy.”
However, AB has assured that he is still going to play some T20 tournaments in the world for a few years.
The 34-year-old said, “I’ve always been a fan of helping some of the Associate nations. You’ve seen some fantastic talent coming through of late: Rashid Khan, one of the best leg-spinners in the world at the moment. I believe it’ll go from strength to strength. I’m still going to play for a few years; I’ll still play a little bit around the world. But on my own terms.”
