"The IPL Couldn't Have Come at a Better Time for Me," says AB de Villiers.

ICC Hall of Famer, AB de Villiers, emphasised that the IPL was launched at just the right time to launch his career to higher heights. The 40-year-old also lauded former Proteas captain, Graeme Smith's leadership for the success of the Proteas Test of the past. 

The timing of the India Premier League in AB's career

The boom of the lucrative T20 leagues have had a massive impact on the game at large but only one has had the most impact and that is the Indian Premier League, the mother of all T20 leagues around the world.

When the league was launched, back in 2008, a 24-year-old AB de Villiers was establishing himself in international cricket for the Proteas.

At the time, De Villiers had only four years' worth of experience in international cricket having made his debut in 2004. Little did De Villiers know, and to an extent the whole world, that this new league would take his career to the next level.

About 180 IPL matches later, every household in India knows who De Villiers is as the player went on to score over 5000 runs in the tournament and became one of the biggest names in the sport partly because of the league.

"It happened in 2008 for me and it couldn't have come at a better time. That was exactly the year where I started to find my feet," De Villiers told SportsBoom.

"After four years of international cricket, I finally felt in 2008 that I was starting to feel comfortable at the wicket. There's so much time, it doesn't all have to happen in one year."

"If it was launched in 2006 perhaps I would have had a quiet season and never played in the IPL again, who knows? T20s came around at exactly the right time for me."

De Villiers on Kwena Maphaka, Dewald Brevis & the youngsters

The IPL has also given the platform to cricketers at a very young age. Most recently, the Mumbai Indians, one of the tournament's most decorated teams, gave a 17-year-old South African fast bowler his debut at a packed Wankhede Stadium.

A year prior, the same franchise had given South African batter Dewald Brevis his debut months after he played in the under-19 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Though the whole world gets excited when a prodigious youngster steps into the IPL stage, De Villiers believes it is important for youngsters to first understand their games before being thrown into the "deep end."

"I sometimes want the guys to just go slower. I know Kwena was thrown in the deep end in the Mumbai Indians. I want them to learn their games and that's where the power lies in the guys' talents when you understand who you are and your strengths and weaknesses. For me, that happened in 2008," said De Villiers.

"These guys are young, I just want them to play and get experience and not feel too much pressure and millions of dollars thrown at them. Just play the game and when they are ready, the doors will open up."

The Graeme Smith Effect

As the IPL played a hand in De Villiers' game growing exponentially, the batter transferred that form into international cricket.

At the conclusion of his career, De Villiers ended up being inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, a feat that only a few have under their belt.

All his accolades also came as a result of the strength of the Proteas team that he was a part of, a team that went on to dominate World cricket between 2008 to 2012 where they won Test series in England and Australia and became the number one Test team in the world.

De Villiers says that the then captain, Graeme Smith, was the catalyst behind their success and added that the raw talent that was in the team made them almost invincible.

"There was just a healthy culture of us feeling part of something more important and bigger than individuals. I feel our roles were really clear and it all leads back to Graeme (Smith), and the way he managed the whole system at that time," De Villiers described.

"We all knew exactly what was required of us, we all felt welcome and there were no guys more important and less important in the team. That to me is a healthy culture.

"We had insane talent on the side. I think of Dale Steyn, possibly the greatest seamer of all time, Hashim Amla and Graeme himself, and Jacque Kallis who is the greatest cricketer of all time.

"So, let's not look past the fact that there was very special talent in the team but still, we were happy as a side and we were hungry and that was all created by Graeme."