Ravichandran Ashwin congratulates AB de Villiers on a great international career

The whole world was shocked at the news of AB De Villiers retirement from international cricket. With the 2019 World Cup just around the corner, the decision came as a surprise to everyone from the cricketing fraternity. Many cricketers took to Twitter in order to congratulate him on a successful career. Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin too joined the chorus.

Both have enjoyed great battles against each other. Ashwin has a good record against AB De Villiers having dismissed him five times in international cricket. However, he could never get him out in an ODI. As for the IPL, Ashwin has managed to get ABD’s wicket twice. The off-spinner congratulated ABD on a fantastic career and cherished watching him bat.

Here’s what Ashwin tweeted for ABD

“Enjoyed watching you bat as a fan and much later as a player playing against you @ABdeVilliers17, well done on a great career for @OfficialCSA”

Enjoyed watching you bat as a fan and much later as a player playing against you @ABdeVilliers17, well done on a great career for @OfficialCSA 👍

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) May 24, 2018

This was quite similar to Graeme Smith’s sudden decision in 2014. The former Proteas skipper though had reasoned personal commitments for his retirement, just one year before the World Cup in Australia. Four years later, we see another South African great hang his boots just a year before the big tournament in England.

‘Superman’ as he’s been known in the cricketing circles managed to score more than 20000 runs in his international career. While he was considered the best in One Day Internationals, even his Test match record has been one of the finest. The recent series against Australia and India were a sublime proof of the same.

Citing tiredness and running out of gas as the reason, AB De Villiers stepped down as he shared a video on Twitter. He felt that it would be good to watch a youngster come in at his place. He further thanked all the fans as well as Cricket South Africa for the support over the years. He vowed them to continue supporting skipper Faf Du Plessis and the Proteas team.

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