AB de Villiers reveals the spat he had with Ray Jennings

AB de Villiers is perhaps one of the most well-respected and one of the most loved cricketers in the world. With his fan base in India growing by the second, especially with his book breaking record sales, it seems clear that he is already well and truly a living legend of the game.

However, when one makes the effort to actually dig in and read the words written by de Villiers, they will certainly know that he has not had it easy. In his book, de Villiers wrote about one incident he faced with Ray Jennings during his early career with the South African cricket team.

Of course, it was under Jennings that the 32-year old impressed a lot with his time in the Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, the start of their relationship was quite sour, to say the least.

The story dated back to the time when AB de Villiers and a few other prospects were playing in the South Africa ‘A’ side. In 2004, South Africa was perhaps the closest to being the best team in the world. Of course, they had not won the World Cup as yet, but, the fact of the matter remained that they were most certainly a force to reckon with.

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Playing against New Zealand ‘A’, de Villiers had lost his wicket after playing somewhat of a rash shot after getting a start to the innings. However, little did he expect to be reprimanded by his coach Ray Jennings who did not seem to be pleased with the shot he played. De Villiers went on to recount the punishment meted out to him.

‘Who the hell do you think you are, De Villiers? You walk in and you are loose. You don’t respect the opposition and the game. That attitude is going to cost us. It’s not good enough for this team and I promise you won’t play in my team again’, Jennings is quoted as having said in AB’s book. The South African skipper also went on to enumerate how Ashwell Prince made his way out to break up the fight between the two.