Former South African wicketkeeper-batter AB de Villiers is one of the few players in cricketing history who has dominated and prospered in all three formats of the game.
Not only did the star cricketer score a large number of runs in both red and white-ball cricket, but also played a style of cricket that became a brand.
Legendary former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that he had predicted de Villiers' rapid rise to fame.
Akhtar recalls telling the explosive batter during the opening edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008 that he will become one of the greatest cricketers and will also lead the South African team one day.
“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 Africa team. I told him that he would become one of the greatest players ever,” Akhtar told Sportskeeda.
However, Akhtar said that he found it quite easy to bowl to de Villiers and that he was able to dismiss him multiple times. When de Villiers announced his retirement from cricket, he claimed he was "sad and enraged."
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“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 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. And that is exactly what happened. He said that on Twitter that he is still having nightmares. I was sad and angry when he announced his retirement,” added Akhtar.
IPL 2008 was the only season in which players from Pakistan were allowed to take part in the cash-rich league.
Akhtar played for the two-time champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and his best performance against the de Villiers-starred Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) when he took up 4 wickets by conceding just 11 runs, which included Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, and Manoj Tiwary.
(Sportskeeda inputs)
