"Have To Explain Myself Again" - AB de Villiers Issues Clarification On 'Played With Detached Retina' Remark

Former South Africa captain and Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer AB de Villiers has provided clarification on his comments regarding his right eye. AB de Villiers made the headlines after he told Wisden’s Cricket Monthly that he played the last few years of his IPL career with a detached retina.

AB de Villiers recently talked about how his son accidentally kicked him in his right eye after which De Villiers started to lose vision in his right eye which followed a surgery. Even the doctor was sceptical about De Villiers continuing to play cricket after that kind of injury but he somehow managed to play a few seasons of IPL with only his left eye working at 100%.

“My young son accidentally kicked me in my eye with his heel. I started really losing vision in the right eye. When I got the surgery done the doctor actually asked me, ‘How in the world did you play cricket like this?’. Luckily my left eye did a decent job for the last two years of my career,” AB de Villiers had told Wisden Cricket Monthly

Ab de Villiers later clarified his statement mentioning that it was not like he couldn’t see from his right eye but things would go a bit blurry while he was batting and his right eye’s retina was detached for the last few seasons of his IPL career.

Watch- AB de Villiers Talking About His Eye Injury

Talked about my eye injury in yesterday’s live show. Since the story surfaced, thought it’s best if I exactly explain what happened. Thanks for all your concern and love, always. ??✨

Full episode ?: https://t.co/UKKzLulUCu#CricketTwitter #360Live pic.twitter.com/nVXB2SdX9X

— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) December 9, 2023

“And there’s a bit of a headline for you guys. Something that I hoped would never get out. I did speak about it casually, but I was hoping it wouldn’t become a headline. So I have to explain myself again,” de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“Later on, in the IPL the last 2-3 seasons I realised there was a bit of a blurry, blurred vision with my right eye. I was always testing it on the scoreboard. I was actually caught on the camera once, and I think the commentators mentioned something like, ‘Yeah, he’s getting his eye in’.”

“Meanwhile, I was just going like, ‘Why is this eye so blurry? And this one is fine. I would put eye drops in. When I got the surgery done, the doctor actually asked me how in the world you play cricket like this. Luckily, my left eye did a decent job. So my left eye is the dominant eye luckily, but the right one did struggle for the last few years,” de Villiers concluded.

Even after being almost blind in one eye, he played a significant role in RCB’s IPL campaign in 2019,2020 and 2021 where Royal Challengers Bangalore qualified for the playoffs. He was as good as anyone even after being physically challenged in the last few years.

The South African legend played his last season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2021. Despite raging demands from fans that he should carry on with his IPL stint with RCB, de Villiers decided not to return to play franchise cricket. He stated that the Covid-19 pandemic had taken a toll on him. AB de Villiers is currently the ambassador for South Africa’s SA20 League and it is expected that he will return to RCB in a management role later in the near future.