Abraham Benjamin de Villiers aka AB de Villiers gave a rude shock to his fans as he the Protean decide to retire from all forms of cricket. Having played 114 test matches, 228 ODIs and 78 T20, AB’s retirement was nothing less than unexpected because he was at the top of his game. The 34- year-old was not only a gem of a batsman but was also an amazing fielder. Even in the modern day cricket, he is considered to be the most consistent batsman. The best part about AB was that he could play according to the situation.

AB caught the attention of the selectors in December 2004 and in his test debut against England he scored 52 runs and saved the test of South Africa. His consistent performance not only earned him a place in the squad but his cricketing abilities bagged him the nickname of Mr 360. Since then, he has given us many memorable moments and his fans around the world relished each of his innings. On this day, let’s go down the memory lane and pick 5 best innings of his career to date.

Fastest 100 from 31 balls:

January 18, 2015, was the day when AB de Villiers rewrote history by overtaking by smashing a 100 off just 31 balls in Johannesburg against West Indies. In that particular match, AB scored 149 off 44 balls. His innings comprised 9 fours and 16 sixes. He batted at the average of 338.63. With this, South Africa won the match by 148 runs.

278* vs Pakistan

It was in 2010 in Abu Dhabi at the Sheikh Abu Zayed Stadium against Pakistan during the first innings of the game that South Africa was in deep trouble when the team lost wickets early and they were at 33/3. He put up a strong partnership with Jacques Kallis of 179 runs and remained not out. He took 418 balls to get 278 runs and AB’s innings comprised 23 fours and 6 sixes.

217* vs India

It was in the second test when South Africa toured India in 2008, the hosts in Ahmedabad were wrapped up for 76 runs. However, AB de Villiers and Jacque Kallis once again stood tall for the team by scoring 217 and 132 runs respectively. India stood no chance and lost the game by an inning and 90 runs.

106* vs Australia

AB’s century in 2008 came on one of the deadliest wickets of the world. Australia’s Perth is known for its bounce and the hosts set a target of 414 runs for South Africa. After the team lost Graeme Smith on 108 and Hashim Amla on 57, the target looked unachievable. Kallis and Duminy both made 50 and AB’s unbeaten knock of 106 runs helped the team chase the second highest total of in the fourth innings.

162* vs Australia

It was in Sydney that AB rewrote records once again during the World Cup 2015. When AB walked into bat, in the 30th  over, the scoreboard displayed 146/3. Little did the fans know that they were to witness yet another terrific innings from AB as the right-hander hammered 162 runs against Australia in just 66 deliveries. With 17 fours and 8 sixes, he broke a plethora of all-time and World Cup records.

By the end of his career, AB has made 8765 runs with the highest score of 278 unbeaten. Whereas in the ODIs, he made 9577 and the highest remains 176. Whereas in the T20s, AB scored 1672 from 78 matches.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 23, 2018 06:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).