AB de Villiers, a former South Africa legendary batsman is likely to take a u-turn from retirement and play for the national team in the 5-match T20I series against West Indies.
The former South African batsman Mr. 360 truly mesmerized the international cricketing spectrum with his stupendous performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
AB De Villiers, Chris Morris, And Imran Tahir In Line To Play For South Africa Again
Despite the fact that he doesn’t play cricket for the national team, he has been categorized as the finest batsman in T20 cricket at present. While it’s been known for a while that the former Proteas skipper has been willing to come out of retirement any time soon, the moment could finally arrive in the 5 matches T20I series between South Africa and West Indies.
AB De Villiers hung up his boots in 2018, bringing an end to his illustrious 15-year-old cricketing career for South Africa but since last year, the talismanic batsman has been speaking about making a u-turn. AB de Villiers had made his intentions of playing in the upcoming T20 World Cup public last year but the tournament got postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
With this year’s T20 World Cup expected to remain on schedule, AB De Villiers is understandably interested to make his international return and feature in the showpiece event.
When asked about his plans about the same during an IPL 2021 match, De Villiers had said: “It will be fantastic to play for South Africa again, I will be speaking with Boucher late end of IPL – last year, he asked me whether I am interested and I said ‘absolutely.”
As per reports, Cricket South Africa Director Graeme Smith has reportedly hinted towards the return of AB De Villiers as well as Chris Morris and Imran Tahir for the national team’s T20I series against West Indies. South Africa is reportedly set to travel to the Caribbean on June 02 and will lock horns in a 5-match T20I series.
Graeme Smith said he is hopeful of “free agents” AB de Villiers, Imran Tahir, and Chris Morris returning in South Africa colours next month. He also confirmed that South Africa will be playing a two-match Test series and a 5-game T20I series against West Indies in June.
AB De Villiers Is An Asset For RCB : Virat Kohli
AB De Villiers was doing wonders for his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 14th edition of the league before it was indefinitely postponed. Despite batting at No. 4 or No. 5 for RCB, AB De Villiers was among the top run-scorers for his side. He had aggregated 207 runs in 6 innings at an average of 51.75 at a highly impressive strike rate of 164.28.
Even RCB skipper Virat Kohli admitted being surprised at how AB De Villiers manages to perform at the requisite level despite not playing cricket regularly.
“AB doesn’t like me saying this, but he hasn’t played competitive cricket for 5 months, but if you look at him bat it doesn’t feel like he doesn’t play international cricket anymore. Hats off to him, keeps doing it again and again for us. Such an asset for us. I’ll say this again (smiles). He hasn’t played for five months, just watch that inning,” Kohli had said after De Villiers’ 75 helped the franchise beat Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021.
AB De Villiers has 5056 runs in his IPL career playing 176 matches averaging 40.77 at an impressive strike rate of 152.38. He has scored 3 tons and 40 fifties. He is the 6th highest run-scorer in IPL. AB De Villiers averages above 50 in both Tests and ODIs but he will certainly try to make amends to his below-par average of 26.12 in 78 T20Is where he amassed 1672 runs.