Retired International XI of the decade

Ab de Villiers

One of the most unorthodox batsmen of all time, Abraham Benjamin de Villiers painted the cricketing field like a pro artist. The naturally gifted wicket-keeper batsman from South Africa made the headlines with his out of the box thinking while batting and creating his very own shots to hammer the bowlers all around the park.

The Pretoria born cricketer was a wicket-keeper batsman at the start but his keeping skills were overshadowed by legendary Mark Boucher. He is considered not only a great batsman but an exceptional fielder. He featured in ICC ODI team of the year seven times.

Though he took early retirement from international cricket, in 114 Tests that the veteran played, he scored 8,765 runs at an average of 51. He scored 22 centuries in Test cricket. In ODIs, he scored 9,577 runs at an average of 54 in 228 matches. He has 25 ODI tons to his name.