Admired by the fans for his exceptional range of shots, South African batting star AB de Villiers has joined Indian batters Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan by signing a three-year bat deal with tyre manufacturing company MRF which is stated as the worth of RS 28 million.
“I am still negotiating that one‚ obviously they would like me to play as much cricket as possible around the world in all formats. For now‚ I still have to negotiate with them and see how we get around that,” de Villiers was quoted as saying by Times Live.
The 32-year-old wicket-keeper batsman has joined tyre manufacturers as the brand ambassador to play with the bat having MRF logo embossed on it.
In the past, MRF has endorsed legendary batsmen which included Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh.
“I am happy to be with them‚ it’s a great company and looking forward to walking onto the field with the bat,” de Villiers said.
According to the reports, the deal was signed in the recent past as de Villiers was in talks with the company about his workload before mentioning he is not going to play so many matches.
In a 50-over game, de Villiers returned after a long layoff against Easterns in Benoni on Sunday while playing for Northern in a semi-professional game.
However, earlier the giant tyre manufacturing company wanted him to play more matches in the deal as he’s recovering from the elbow injury and declared himself available for the limited-overs cricket.
“I am nervous before cricket games. After a break like this‚ you like to prove that you can still play the game and can still hit the ball well,” de Villiers added.
The Proteas had already missed ODI and Test series against Australia and ODI series against Black Caps after injuring his elbow during the Caribbean Premier League in July 2016.
“I know there will be a lot of eyes on me and I would like to prove that I can still play. There is added pressure but I have always played under pressure and I am motivated to do well in the match,” de Villiers concluded.
The Pretoria-born de Villiers had already pulled out of New Zealand, Bangladesh and England Test series to prepare for 2019 World Cup before eyeing the Test return in 2018.