Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers has clarified his comments regarding his right eye, following recent headlines about playing the last 2-3 years of his Indian Premier League (IPL) career with a detached retina. De Villiers initially revealed to Wisden's Cricket Monthly that he experienced vision loss in his right eye due to an accidental kick from his young son.
Addressing the issue on his YouTube channel, de Villiers provided further context, emphasizing that while he could still see, there were moments of blurriness during his batting. He expressed hope that this personal detail wouldn't become a headline but felt the need to explain the situation.
In his own words on the YouTube channel, de Villiers stated, "Later on, in the IPL the last 2-3 seasons, I realized 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 played his final IPL season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2021. Despite calls from fans for his return, he chose not to continue in franchise cricket, citing the toll of the Covid-19 era on his well-being. Currently serving as the ambassador for South Africa's SA20, de Villiers is anticipated to return to RCB in a management role in the future.
