Twitter Reacts As AB de Villiers Steps Down From ODI Captaincy
Aug 23, 2017 at 8:44 PM
While ending his self-imposed exile from Test cricket, South Africa star AB de Villiers, on Wednesday (August 23), confirmed that he would be available for selection in all the three formats but stepped down as the One-Day International captain of the team.
Mr. 360 @ABdeVilliers17 has announced to step down from the ODI captaincy.
— Sportzwiki (@sportzwiki) August 23, 2017
Speculations were high over de Villiers’ Test career as he had not donned the white jersey for the Proteas since January 2016 before an injury sidelined him for much of last year. Consequently, he missed the series against New Zealand, Australia, and Sri Lanka. Later, he stated that he would be taking a sabbatical from the Test game with an eye on the 2019 World Cup but kept the management and the fans guessing over his future.
He was recently targetted by many former players including his former teammate and skipper Graeme Smith but the 33-year old has now put all the speculations to the bed. The news will be a welcome relief for South Africa’s Test team which recently lost 3-1 to England with batting collapses being one of the prime reasons behind the heavy thrashing.
Meanwhile, de Villiers’ decision to play all the formats and step down as the captain invited different reactions on the social media.
Here is how Twitter reacted to de Villiers’ decision:
https://twitter.com/KP24/status/900369000345083905
Best decision to step down as captain and continue as a player, @ABdeVilliers17! Now @faf1307 can build a team for 2019. Brilliant!
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) August 23, 2017
No retirement from Test cricket for AB
Available for all 3 formats
Faf to be the ODI captain
Ache din could be back for South Africa cricket pic.twitter.com/tsdaNkPvQw— Shubh Aggarwal (@shubh_chintak) August 23, 2017
@msdhoni , #AlastairCook and now the superman @ABdeVilliers17
2017 is bringing quite a transformation!#ABdeVilliers— Kshitij (@kshaitij) August 23, 2017
I've #faith in 'The' AB de Villiers .Time maybe tougher but he is devil himself. He'll get his dance moves tuned to the rythm once again 🤘😈🤘
— Mritunjay (@Spirit_Dual) August 23, 2017
@ABdeVilliers17 Yes absolutely best news of 2017.Hopefully we will see a more explosive Devilliers after stepping down from captaincy.
— Raj Mapara (@rajmapara6) August 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/mrjaravs/status/900361765245956096
Ab and Steyn back for the Tests vs India should make it a mouth watering contest. Proper 🔥
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) August 23, 2017
The irritation with de Villiers for some was for 20 months he kept pushing it. And they missed his experience in ENG.
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) August 23, 2017