AB de Villiers is one of greatest batters ever to grace the game of cricket. He entertained millions of cricket fans with his 360 shots around the ground. AB de Villiers also enjoyed a massive fan following in India. AB de Villiers had a good rivalry with Shoaib Akhtar on the field.

Mr. 360 was widely famous for adapting brilliantly to all three formats. However the path wasn’t an easy one for ABD. He faced several challenges in his career, especially during early days. Shoaib Akhtar in an interview revealed that he told AB de Villiers in 2008 that he would become a great player in future.

Shoaib Akhtar said: “I met him during IPL back in 2008. It was at a function, at a private ceremony. And I told him that he is a great player and asked him to get prepared to captain the South African team. I told him that he would become one of the greatest players ever.”

“Fortunately, whenever I faced him I managed to dismiss him and at times I even felt that I could dismiss him easily. Then when he came to the IPL, he tried to play the pull shot, but I knew that he would be late because there was a lot of pace on my delivery.”, Akhtar added.

“I was sad and angry”: Shoaib Akhtar reveals he was disappointed with retirement of AB De Villiers

AB De Villiers shocked everyone with his sudden retirement from International Cricket in 2018. It was a big blow to the cricketing world. Shoaib Akhtar too expressed his disappointment with the sudden retirement of AB De Villiers at such a young age. 

Rawalpindi express also said that AB De Villiers still has nightmares of my express pace bowling. “And that is exactly what happened. He said on Twitter that he is still having nightmares. I was sad and angry when he announced his retirement.”, Akhtar added.

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