#OTD in 2018 | AB de Villiers announced his retirement from international cricket

On this day in 2018, one of the finest South African players to grace the field, AB de Villiers, announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. 

After appearing in only 16 First-Class games, he debuted in a Test fixture against England in December 2004, with Dale Steyn as the other debutant.

After the Test series, the talented batter was handed his ODI debut. In 2006, he featured in his first T20I fixture against Australia. 

He started his career as an opener but switched to middle-order and gradually kept the wickets as well. AB scored his first Test and ODI century against the West Indies in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

In 2008, he became the first Proteas cricketer to score a double century against India in the Test format. In 2010 against Pakistan, he registered the then highest individual score of 278* by a South African cricketer in the red-ball format.

He played a crucial role in bringing innovations to the game, revolutionizing T20 cricket, and making his name in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

From the period of 2012 to 2017, AB captained the South Africa ODI team in 103 matches and tasted success in 59 of them.

Under his leadership in 18 T20Is, the team secured victories on eight occasions. In red-ball cricket, Proteas won on two out of three occasions. 

2015 proved to be a terrific year for the team under AB, as they reached the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup in Australia. In one of the fixtures against West Indies, he delivered a whirlwind knock of 162* off 66 balls to help the team post 408 on the board and win by 257 runs.

During his mammoth knock, he toppled the records of the fastest 50, 100, and 150 in ODIs. In his illustrious career of 114 Tests, 228 ODIs, and 78 T20Is, he garnered a total of 20,014 runs, with 47 centuries.

Post-retirement from international cricket in 2018, AB continued to feature for his beloved franchise in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) until 2021.