AB de Villiers Height, Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About AB de Villiers

• Does AB de Villiers smoke?: No

• Does AB de Villiers drink alcohol?: Yes

• AB was born into a sports-loving family, who always encouraged him to play sports.
  

  AB de Villiers Childhood Photo

• As a kid, he used to play various sports, such as- cricket, badminton, tennis, squash, swimming, football, golf, and rugby, but sooner he developed a fondness for cricket.
  

  AB de Villiers In School Days

• He was a prankster as a kid and was once expelled from the school for playing pranks.

• AB and Faf du Plessis have been best friends since childhood.
  

  AB de Villiers And Faf du Plessis

• After playing 16 first-class games, he made his debut for South Africa at the age of 20.

• He considers South African ace fielder, Jonty Rhodes, as his inspiration.

• Until 2008, he used to be a rash batsman who could easily throw away his wicket, and never played up to his caliber. In April 2008, after his average performance in the 1st Test against England at the Lord’s, the South African skipper Graeme Smith and coach Mickey Arthur gave him an ultimatum. AB took the criticism positively and scored a match-winning 174 runs in the 2nd Test of the series in Headingley and cemented his place in the team.

• Music is an integral part of his life and in 2010, he collaborated with singer and songwriter Ampie Du Preez, and released a bi-lingual English/ Afrikaans album called ‘Maak Jou Drome Waar’ or ‘Make Your Dreams Come True.’

• On 18 January 2015, he set the breathtaking fastest ODI century record, off 31 balls, against West Indies at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

• He couldn’t stop his tears from coming out and cried on the field when South Africa lost in the nail-biting World Cup 2015 semi-final match against New Zealand.

• Jonty Rhodes once revealed that AB wanted to retire from Test cricket in 2016, but Cricket South Africa urged him not to retire.

• In September 2016, he released his autobiography “AB: The Autobiography” in English and Afrikaans.
  

  AB de Villiers - AB…The Autobiography

• There have been fake stories on the internet about his multi-sport talent and glories related to it, but in his autobiography, he revealed that during his school days, he set an Under-9 breaststroke record, and was national No.1 in tennis, in his age group.

• Because of his highly innovative shots around the cricket ground, he has earned nicknames like “Mr. 360” and “Superman.”

• He supports ‘Make a Difference Foundation’ that supports selected scholars from different fields in South Africa.

• On 23 May 2018, he left the cricket fans all over the world stunned after announcing his decision to retire from international cricket, via a video message, stating that he had “run out of gas” or he had lost energy to play cricket.