AB de Villiers was in South Africa’s World T20 plans, confirms Quinton de Kock
de Kock has confirmed that ABD was in line to make a national comeback
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South Africa’s newly-appointed T20 skipper Quinton de Kock has confirmed that veteran AB de Villiers, who retired from international cricket in 2018, was in line to represent the Proteas in the now-postponed World T20. Earlier, De Villiers, too, had expressed interest in making a national comeback.
South Africa’s newly-appointed limited-overs skipper Quinton de Kock has given clarity on one of the biggest ongoing sagas in the world of cricket and has confirmed that veteran batsman AB de Villiers, who quit international cricket in 2018, was, in fact, in line to play the now-postponed 2020 World T20 that was scheduled to take place in Australia later this year. After retiring from international cricket in 2018, de Villiers continued to play T20 franchise competitions, but then, out of the blue, threw his name into the hat for the 50-over World Cup in 2019, only to see his request to make a comeback rejected by Cricket South Africa (CSA).
Since then, the maestro has been more vocal about his desire to make an international comeback and has gone on record stating that he felt that he had a burning desire inside him to come back and serve the South African national team. Now, Proteas’ T20 skipper de Kock has confirmed that de Villiers was ‘in line’ to represent the Proteas in the World T20.
“He was definitely in line. If fit, I would have loved to have AB de Villiers," de Kock said on the Cricket Connected show on Star Sports, reported ESPN Cricinfo.
"I think any team would have loved to have AB de Villiers in their team. While we were pushing for him, now we will have to see when the T20 World Cup is going to happen now."
Now 36 years old, de Villiers’ next destination will be the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in September, with Brijesh Patel, the chairman of the tournament, confirming that the competition was going to be held in UAE due to the Covid-19 situation worsening in India. Recently, ‘Mr.360’ also partook in the exhibition 3TC Solidarity Cup, where he struck a fine 24-ball fifty to send players and fans a timely reminder of his ability.
