Published: Jun 06, 2019, 01:09 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 06, 2019, 01:10 PM (IST)
Retired South African international and former Proteas captain AB de Villiers, who retired from international cricket last year in May, has offered to reverse his decision and be part of South Africa’s World Cup squad, but his offer was “not even considered” by the team management, as per a report in Cricinfo.com.
The website states that de Villiers had approached SA skipper Faf du Plessis, coach Ottis Gibson and but the convenor of selectors Linda Zondi with the offer of coming out of retirement. But, team management and selectors decided not to include de Villiers in SA’s World Cup squad, firstly because he did not fit the criteria of WC selection – that of playing domestic cricket or international cricket during the time and secondly, the management felt it would be fair on the players who are with the team playing to be sidelined for this.
South Africa have lost three World Cup 2019 games and are require to win all their remaining games to have a chance at making it to the semi-finals. SA’s dismal performance has prompted fans to talk about de Villiers and this revelation adds more pressure on the South African team and the management.
Despite retiring from international cricket, de Villiers has been actively playing cricket in T20 leagues ans scored 442 runs at 44.2o in the Indian Premier League just ahead of the World Cup 2019 for Royal Challengers Bangalore and will be playing the T20 Blast for Middlesex right after the World Cup.
The 35-year-old had announced his retirement via a video that he posted from his social media account on May 23, 2018. He had played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is, scoring over 20,000 international runs and decided to retire on a high after the Test series wins against India and Australia that South Africa achieved earlier that year.
