‘Superman hangs his Cape’: Twitter left gasping as AB de Villiers calls time on international career

South Africa’s star batsman AB de Villiers on Wednesday announced he was retiring from all international cricket after a 14-year career.

“I have decided to retire from all international cricket with immediate effect,” he said in a statement.

“After 114 Test matches, 228 ODI’s and 78 T20 Internationals, it is time for others to take over. I have had my turn, and to be honest, I am tired.”

I’ve made a big decision today pic.twitter.com/In0jyquPOK
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) May 23, 2018

Twitter, quite expectedly, was left in shock:

So shocked to here @ABdeVilliers17 has decided to call time on his international career. But that’s just life and he feels it’s time to move on. Thank you great man for your amazing Match winning Performances, Skill Captaincy and most of all your Humility. 👏👏👏
— Allan Donald (@AllanDonald33) May 23, 2018

I remember this young guy on his 1st day out for Proteas... What an inspiration, person and player he turned out to be. Thank you for everything you have done and been for your country, teammates and fans @ABdeVilliers17 #legend pic.twitter.com/8gQBDWbAp7
— mark boucher (@markb46) May 23, 2018

Such a shame for international cricket @ABdeVilliers17 ... But he has been an unbelievable advert to how I would have loved to have played all 3 formats .. GREAT GREAT Player ... Top 3 that I have ever seen .. #AB
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) May 23, 2018

Must admit to being a bit shocked by @ABdeVilliers17 decision to quit all international cricket. We knew it was coming but I thought he would give the World Cup another shot.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 23, 2018

The way he was thrashing the ball during IPL showed what perfect form he was in🔥
Cricket’s gonna miss a player like this. Future mein India ke coach bann jaana please 💕☺️#ByeABD @ABdeVilliers17
— Bhuvan Bam (@Bhuvan_Bam) May 23, 2018

Thank you AB de Villiers for coming to our planet ❤ pic.twitter.com/4m1Y4vbavP
— •Cнιragᵛᶤᵖᵉʳ🚬 (@iSRKsSoul) May 23, 2018

AB de Villiers, the best all format batsman of his generation, retiring from international cricket a year before 2019 WC is a huge blow - maybe biggest yet - to primacy of international cricket.
— Tim (@timwig) May 23, 2018

AB De Villiers has at least one

Test Century
ODI Century
T20I fifty
Test wicket
ODI wicket
Test catch
ODI catch
T20I catch
Test stumping
ODI stumping
T20I stumping

The man who did almost everything as cricketer!
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) May 23, 2018

AB de Villiers, despite being one of the most enterprising batsmen cricket would ever witness, will now retire without any international trophies or big-match knocks and that is truly terrible for posterity. pic.twitter.com/ULDQdc9tS6
— Shalaj Lawania (@_Apex_Predator_) May 23, 2018

The SuperMan hangs his Cape!
For international cricket, especially batting, you will always be a great impact Mr. 360!
And it will always hold true that "ABCDE", AB Can Do Everything!
Adios Champ!#ABD https://t.co/309Hmkmwmq
— Gaurav (@Gaurav_K_Garv) May 23, 2018

AB De Villiers did what he always does. He has left everyone gasping.
— SAGAR (@sagarcasm) May 23, 2018

AB de Villiers destroyed Aust earlier this year and at times played as well as I've ever seen any batsman do so. The fact he's retiring without taking a crack at the 2019 World Cup is disappointing
— Daniel Brettig (@danbrettig) May 23, 2018

AB de Villiers has announced his retirement from international cricket

8,765 Test runs, averaging over 50
9,577 ODI runs, averaging over 50
1,672 T20 runs
47 centuries
109 half-centuries
World's fastest ODI 50, 100 & 150
Fastest Test century by a South African@vikrantgupta73 pic.twitter.com/RZysQfCfKJ
— Kiran Parmar (@kiranparmar21) May 23, 2018

AB de Villiers said "I am tired". Okay. A tired AB is better than the freshers in your team dude. Come on, do a Shahid Afridi, AB. You won't hear us say that ever again, but just do it this time. Come on, you beast. You can do anything.#ABDevilliers
— Jaanvi 🏏 (@ThatCricketBuff) May 23, 2018

AB de Villiers announces retirement from international cricket.... Shocking 😣
we will miss you Ab 😥😥😥😥#IPL2018 #RCB pic.twitter.com/JqurtWHvCU
— manish singh khati (@imHbK_19) May 23, 2018

Thank you AB de Villiers for everything you gave to the game. Your supermanship will always be missed. Legend! pic.twitter.com/OtysmXTlmT
— SIR .. (@SirJohnRoe) May 23, 2018

AB de Villiers announced Retirement.

This day was going just fine. But of course, some bad news had to come in.

💔
— richa singh (@richa_singh) May 23, 2018

Thank you @ABdeVilliers17 for the joy and entertainment in watching you bat and field! Hope you continue to play in #IPL for a few more years.#ThankyouABD https://t.co/W4xZjNm1jB
— Amit Paranjape (@aparanjape) May 23, 2018

Don't say that AB de Villiers has retired from all forms of international cricket, say that AB de Villiers has retired from cricket in all 360 degrees.
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) May 23, 2018