AB de Villiers, the star batsman of the South African cricket team, has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
The 37-year-old cricketer announced the end of his 17-year career on his Twitter account on Friday.
The legendary batsman scored 8,765 runs in 114 Tests, 9,577 in 228 ODIs and 1,672 in 78 T20s for South Africa.
"It has been a wonderful journey but now I have decided to retire from all formats of cricket," AB de Villiers said in a statement."Cricket has been of paramount importance to me, whether I am playing for the Titans, for South Africa or for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the game has given me incredible experiences and opportunities and I will always be grateful."
"I would like to thank every player on the team, every opponent, every coach, every physio and every staff member who has been involved in this journey," he said in another tweet.
"I thank everyone in South Africa, India and wherever I have played cricket for their support."
"And I would like to say in the end that all this would not have been possible without the sacrifices of my family, my parents, my brothers, my wife and my children."
"I'm going to start a new phase of life in which they will be at the forefront for me."
AB de Villiers has the distinction of scoring the fastest, fifties, centuries and the fastest 150 runs in ODIs.
