Still believe that I have a role to play in South Africa cricket and with RCB in IPL, says AB de Villiers

Despite retiring from all formats of the game in November 2021, AB de Villiers remains a popular figure among cricket fans around the world. De Villiers has been a prolific batsman for South Africa, and he featured in 14 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is for the Proteas. The talismanic batsman has also been a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) squad since 2011 in IPL. 

De Villiers has amassed 20,014 international runs across formats during his 17-year career, and also holds the record for the fastest fifty, century and 150 in ODIs. The right-hand batsman has also scored 4522 runs for RCB from 157 matches. 

Reflecting on his future plans, De Villiers believes that he has a role to play in the South Africa cricket team and also for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL. 

"I still believe that I have a role to play in SA cricket and also over there in the IPL with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). I have no idea what will come next but I will take it one day at a time and see. I have been looking after and mentoring some youngsters with potential and ability for the last few years," he told TimesLive.com.za.

Citing the reason behind his decision to retire from all formats, De Villiers reckoned that he was not getting the same enjoyment from the sport which he used to get before. 

"I found myself on the park where scoring runs and doing well for the team didn't really match with everything that goes with it anymore and that's where the balance started leading towards hanging my gloves up.

"I have never been the guy who is going to push every single bit of energy of my ability and my cricketing skill, I have always played for the enjoyment of the game. And the minute that sort of started going down, I knew it was time for me to move on," he added.