Abraham Benjamin de Villiers (born 17 February 1984) is a South African former international cricketer, and a current commentator.

AB de Villiers was named as the ICC ODI Player of the Year[2] three times during his 15-year international career and was one of the five Wisden cricketers of the decade at the end of 2019.

[11][12][13] In January 2020, however, de Villiers expressed an interest in making an international comeback and play in the 2020 T20 World Cup,[14] although later in the year it was confirmed that he would not do so.

[26] AB de Villiers is claimed by many to be a multifaceted, versatile sportsperson, having excelled in various sports such as golf, rugby, tennis, and hockey.

De Villiers was back in form soon and gave the selectors a sign by producing his then highest one-day score of 92 not out, which included 12 fours and one six, from 98 balls against India in the 2006 winter series.

[31] Going into the 2007 Cricket World Cup, de Villiers was in good form in ODIs, having scored four fifties in five matches against India and Pakistan.

[32] In the early stages of the tournament his form was poor with three failures including a duck against the Netherlands in a match where his team broke various records for batting,[33] although he scored a 92 in the first round against Australia.

He made his maiden ODI hundred, 146 from just 130 balls including 5 sixes and 12 fours, in the Super 8 game against West Indies on 10 April 2007.

De Villiers scored an obdurate 174 that helped set up a ten-wicket win for South Africa in the second Test against England at Headingley Carnegie in Leeds in July 2008.

In the first Test in Perth, de Villiers scored a match-winning century to help South Africa chase down the second-highest-ever fourth innings target of 414 with six wickets in hand.

This was South Africa's first Test victory in Australia in 15 years and appeared to go a long way towards tilting world cricket's balance of power after over a decade of Australian dominance.

De Villiers also took four diving catches in the course of the match, including one to dismiss Jason Krejza, a stunner at backward point.

In the first Test of the return series at the Wanderers Stadium, de Villiers provided lone resistance in the first innings against a bowling attack led by pace bowler, Mitchell Johnson, scoring 104* off 185 balls with 9 fours and 1 six, while his teammates all fell for under 50.

In the third Test, after centuries from Ashwell Prince and Jacques Kallis, de Villiers was the third centurion of the innings with a score of 163 off 196 balls with 12 fours and 7 sixes.

He was rested for the two-match Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe and because Mark Boucher was injured as well Heino Kuhn donned the keeping gloves.

He then participated in the five-match ODI series where South Africa were chasing 203 to win and he scored 51 before he was caught and bowled by Saeed Ajmal.

In the second ODI he scored 29 as he was bowled by Shahid Afridi; in the same match, a flamboyant Abdul Razzaq played the greatest innings of his life to lift Pakistan to an unbelievable victory.

In his first match as captain, South Africa inflicted the heaviest defeat in Sri Lanka's history, with a 258-run win in Paarl on 11 January 2012.

[45] On 10 July, de Villiers was handed full-time wicket-keeping duties after Mark Boucher announced retirement from cricket after suffering eye injuries from a hit from a bail the day before.

[49] De Villiers was one of the top performers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup scoring 482 runs at an average of 96.0 and strike rate of 144.0 during the tournament.

[50] On 27 February 2015, he scored 162 runs off 66 balls in a match against the West Indies in Pool B, leading South Africa to their second-highest total in World Cup history (408), at Sydney Cricket Ground.

[59] He also kept wicket during the match, as South Africa's wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock suffered a hamstring injury while batting on day one.

He stated he had given up wicket-keeping as his back could no longer handle the demand, and Faf du Plessis resumed his role as captain in all forms of the game.

He was not selected as he had not played any international cricket for his country leading up to the tournament, despite having been prompted to do so by South Africa's coach Ottis Gibson earlier in the year.

[69][70] In January 2020, it was rumoured that de Villiers was in talks to make a comeback to the South African T20I side for the 2020 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

De Villiers,[71] as well as South African director of cricket Graeme Smith[72] and head coach Mark Boucher,[73] confirmed these rumours.

After originally playing for Delhi Daredevils, he moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for US$1.5 million in the league's fourth season.

[76] Following his retirement from international cricket, his future in T20 franchise leagues was uncertain until he announced in July 2018 that he intended to continue to play in the IPL for "a few years".

[79] Other than the IPL, de Villiers has played franchise T20 cricket for Barbados Tridents, Tshwane Spartans, Rangpur Riders, Middlesex, Brisbane Heat and Lahore Qalandars in leagues across the world.

In 2010, he released a bilingual pop album entitled Maak Jou Drome Waar with his friend and South African singer Ampie du Preez.