Why ABD's Retirement Came At The Wrong Time

Abraham Benjamin de Villiers' retirement announcement was a bolt from the blue for the world cricketing fraternity and has rightly sent social media into a pandemonium. Riding on the back of a stellar IPL season being the leading runscorer for Royal Challengers Bangalore, no one expected ABD to hang up his boots with the 2019 World cup exactly a year away.

His fans have been left gasping for breath following the announcement and numerous reasons reiterate that this may not have been the best time to call it a day on one of the most illustrious limited overs career of the 21st century.

Here are five reasons why this move seems too premature.

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#1 Age and fitness

ABD just turned 34 this March and going by the standards of the giants who have walked before him, he has at least four years of cricket left within him. In comparison, MS Dhoni turns 37 this year and in all probability, will go on to play at least a year more.

With his truckload of experience in the international circuit, he still has a lot to offer to a transitioning South African team. ABD is still fit as a fiddle and a live wire in the outfield, just like his spirit predecessor Jonty Rhodes, as recently highlighted by his superhuman catch for RCB.

The panache with which he throws himself to stop that extra run from being scored or to grab on to those half chances thrown at him and the voracity with which he scampers in between the wickets to squeeze every last run out of a shot makes us wonder why someone as dedicated as this, would quit the game so early.

#2 The 2019 World Cup

de Villiers during the 2015 world cup

The 2019 edition of the ICC World Cup is scheduled to be held in England and Wales from 30th May next year. Having already captained the team for some time, ABD would have been the most experienced player in the squad.

In the last edition, ABD had led the team from the front by scoring the third most runs as a captain in a World Cup. Another tryst with rain coupled with some jaw-dropping hitting by Grant Elliott halted the South African force in the semifinals and the team would need all the experience that they can have in order to shed the habit of having brain fades in bigger tournaments.

Without the burden of captaincy, de Villiers would have been able to play more freely as a batsman and think critically as part of the tactical core. Neither ABD the batsman nor ABD the fielder is replaceable, and now Cricket South Africa has a herculean task of finding someone to step into these big shoes.

#3 His empty trophy cabinet

South Africa's 2015 semi-final exit- one of the most emotional moments in WC history

Though he has been active for 14 years in international cricket, ABD has never won an ICC trophy. And although it can be very well said that greatness of a player cannot be measured by the trophies he has, ABD's career would sometimes pale in comparison to some other modern-day greats (like Virat Kohli or Steven Smith) because of this reason, much like Lionel Messi and his Argentinian national team.

The South African team has rapidly improved in the past two years and with a pace attack so strong that even Dale Steyn's place in the team is not set, and in the fast bowlers' paradise that is England, they surely have a strong claim to the trophy.

At the threshold of a great opportunity, quitting the game seems not so logical. The fact that arguably the greatest batsman of all time, Sachin Tendulkar, had to wait 22 years to lift the coveted trophy does make us think- did he give up too early?

#4 Form

ABD has been in the form of his life from the beginning of 2018

ABD was in rich vein of form, maybe the best in his life, coming into IPL 2018. He took it a whole level up with his game during the last seven weeks, hitting 480 runs with a half-century once in every two times he graced the middle- if that does not speak enough about consistency, I don't think anything else will.

Adding to that, there is the manner in which he scores the runs- elegance oozing out of even the toughest and most unorthodox shots amalgamated with an impeccable timing that is almost superhuman. He is not someone who knows only to go hammers and tongs (like a certain Chris Gayle or a vintage Virender Sehwag). He has proved that time and again with the numerous damage-control innings which also often finished at a 100+ strike rate, owing to his innate ability to seamlessly shift gears during the knock.

In tests, he could bat with a strike rate of under 20 to save a match with the same ease as playing a counter-attacking inning as good as one from the modern master of the art, Adam Gilchrist. It is no wonder why the latter had once remarked that ABD is the most valuable limited-overs player in world cricket.

#5 The world hasn't had enough

de Villiers, scooping the ball for the 180-degree shot.

Simply put, the world deserves more of AB de Villiers. His best form has come at the age of 34, indicating that he ages like fine wine. Nothing has diminished- the ease with which he clears the ropes, the unusual hitting arc that spans 360 degrees around the crease, the acrobatic efforts in the field or the down-to-earth attitude that has won him fans all around the globe.

This may be more of an emotional reason than a logical one, but this human being has years of cricket left in him, and to miss out on the numerous breathtaking shots and showstopper catches which could have been, is too much to ask to a fan of the game.

Maybe the world can't have too much of a good thing. And maybe, like his senior captain Graeme Smith, now his family needs him more than the cricketing world.