‘Dhanyawaad’: AB de Villiers bids adieu

New Delhi, November 19

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South African cricket great AB de Villiers, who announced today that he was quitting all forms of cricket, thanked his fans in India by saying ‘dhanyawaad’, also writing ‘thank you’ ‘dankie’ (Afrikaans) in a Twitter post.

Best player of our times

To the best player of our times and the most inspirational person I’ve met, you can be very proud of what you’ve done and what you’ve given to RCB my brother. — Virat Kohli, India captain

The best I’ve ever seen, and someone who I’ve always looked up to! Took the game to another level singlehandedly mr360 — Sam Billings, England’s wicketkeeper-batter

De Villiers, who retired from international cricket in 2018, figured in 184 IPL matches, first for Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) for three seasons followed by a decade with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), where he formed a formidable partnership with Virat Kohli.

In a video shared by RCB on Twitter, de Villiers was emotional as he thanked people those who contributed to his amazing career. “Today I will be going to make a big and emotional announcement. I am finished with all formats and all cricket. I do have a smile on my face as I did make a right decision. But deep in my heart, I am incredibly sad and have lots of emotions and thoughts going through my mind,” he said. “To all the people in Bangalore who have supported the teams I played and my cricket, thank you so much for that. It’s difficult to put into words what the fans of cricket and specifically of my game, meant to me. It’s been life-changing.”

He added that he would forever be a part of RCB. “To every single one of you who’s criticised me or loved everything that I did throughout my career, thank you very much. I am not going anywhere as I will be an RCBian for life. Every single person in the RCB set-up has become family to me,” he said. — PTI