#1
He did not do ducks
Till he played 78 Test Match innings, AB de Villers never got out for a duck. The previous record was held by Arvinda de Silva for 75 innings. Do you notice some similar name pattern?
#2
Maximum dismissals in a Test Match
Jointly holds maximum number of dismissals in a Test match–11–with Jack Russel of England.
#3
Science and sports went hand-in-hand
Surprisingly, he wanted to become a doctor. He even won a national medal for a Science project from the South African President Nelson Mandela. However, he excelled in number of sports and ultimately chose Cricket as his career.
#4
Guitar is my instrument
It’s not only Brett Lee who plays guitar and plays Cricket. AB de Villers also plays the guitar. In 2010, he released an album with Ampie du Preez called, “Maak Jou Drome Waar”.
#5
What’s missing in the name, he found in the game
The first four letters of his name contains the first five letters of English alphabet–AB DE, as only C is missing. However, he got that through the game of Cricket.
#6
Plenty of them, which one to choose?
Like Jonty Rhodes, he also played different sports. In fact, he excelled in almost all of them. He was captain of Junior Rugby squad. He holds six school swimming records. Was selected to play in national Hockey and Football teams. He was U-19 national champion in Badminton. He was a member of SA junior Davis Cup Team. One will wonder, what he could not do. But the charm of Cricket did him and he followed suit of Jonty Rhodes who inspired him when he was just 8 years old.
#7
Records keep breaking
He is the first South African batsman to score a double century against India.
He is the first South African batsman to score two centuries in a single World Cup.
He is the first wicketkeeper to score a century and claim 10 dismissals in a Test match.
Holds the world record for fastest 50 and 100 in a one-day match.
Holds the record for hitting maximum sixes in a one-day match equaling Rohit Sharma’s record.
Holds the record to reach fastest 7,000 runs in one-day internationals.
#8
Personal Facts
He prefers to be called as AB though his nickname is Abbas. He likes to eat pasta. He likes the movie Gladiator. He is scared of snakes.
