ABD, In A Happy Place

The South Africa legend says he got to a stage where he felt he had to get away from the international cricket scene, spend more time with his family and just stay sane!

- Uthra Ganesan

AbrahamBenjamindeVilliersmaynot be the kind of cricketing superstar Indian sare accustomed to. ABD, though, is a genuine modern-day legend of the game and among its all-time greats. He has multiple records against his name, can make the most difficult of shots look ridiculously easy and butcher the ball all around, all with a smile. But the South African insists he is still “a long way from being perfect” and all the adulation sits lightly on him. In a detailed, exclusive interviewwithSportstar, de Villiers spoke on a range of subjects — on being a player, his family, his journey with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and Virat Kohli.

The 360-degree man — how does that label sit on you personally?

That is an interesting question to start off! To be honest, I didn’t try to get that name when I started playing cricket; it automatically happened with the way I played. But I think there is a method in madness. You have got to adapt to different situations, both in life and in cricket. After 15 years of playing international cricket and travelling around the world, I realised you have to adapt to all kinds of situations on andoff the pitch.That’s just theway it all happened.All the different shots I play, that’s all about survival in the game and staying ahead of the pack and have the skill to be able to adapt. That’s the most important thing and I think that’swhere the ‘360’ comes from, so it is nothing special.

ABD, as an acronym, is as recognisable as SRT across the cricketing world. How do you handle all the popularity, the adulation?