Jonty Rhodes has urged South Africa to do anything in a bid to win the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 title. The T20 World Cup will take place in Australia later this year.
Having earned a reputation of ‘Chokers’, the Proteas have not won any major ICC event till date. Even after performing extremely well in the group stages, they somehow manage to choke in the knockouts and ended up getting disqualified time and again.
The ICC T20 World Cup is the only major ICC event which will take place in October, this year. With South Africa failing to do wonders in the multi-nation tournaments, fans expect a lot from the team going into the mega ICC event
T20 World Cup 2020: Jonty Rhodes Wants South Africa to win the title
Jonty Rhodes believes South Africa should “do anything” to win the T20 World Cup, and that means picking AB de Villiers, who hasn’t played international cricket for nearly two years if needed. But Rhodes is concerned that picking de Villiers could set a worrying precedent, as it would mean leaving out a player who would be in contention in the lead-up to the tournament.
Rhodes said, “I think it’s interesting because it’s a tough call,” Rhodes told ESPNcricinfo on the sidelines of the Road Safety World Series in Mumbai. “You want your best team to play, it’s also tough on the guys who then miss out. You know AB is a very special player so then do you set a precedent for a guy like AB de Villiers if he is not playing for South Africa, I mean why are you selecting him?”
Not sure of the precedent: Jonty Rhodes
“I suppose a lot of people watch how he performed at the IPL but just watching him in the Big Bash, he’s such a class player; I’m a big fan of AB de Villiers. I’m just not sure of the precedent. If you want to win a T20 World Cup, you should do anything to win it. You’re not breaking any rules, you are setting a slight precedent and you are going to be upsetting a few players who are going to miss out,” he added.
If de Villiers marks his comeback into the international cricket then it will be a major boost for the Proteas ahead of the mega-event.
He is regarded as one of the best T20 batsmen across the globe who can single-handedly win the games for his team.