South Africa captain Faf du Plessis on Monday said that talks are going on between the country’s cricket board (CSA) and AB de Villiers for his return to the team before the T20 World Cup in Australia next year. AB de Villiers, 35, left everyone in shock by announcing his retirement from international cricket in May 2018. Hwever, it was reported earlier this year that he wanted to come back before the 50-over World Cup in England but Faf du Plessis and the Proteas team management rejected his offer.
However, South African cricket is heading into a new phase where Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher joned as CSA director of cricket and head coach respectively, and they now want to strong their national team with the best-possible players before the T20 World Cup in 2020.
“Those conversations have been happening two or three months ago,” said Du Plessis. “The T20 World Cup is not too far away and there isn’t a long list of T20 internationals over the season. Those conversations have taken place and they will take place before the next T20 international series starts.”
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AB de Villiers, considered as one of the greatest batsmen in the recent time, played 114 Tests and 228 ODIs along with 78 T20Is before announcing his retirement from the international cricket. It was reported that he wasn’t happy with the system which led him taking this drastic step, although he has featured in domestic T20 leagues all over the world.
Earlier this week, new coach Mark Boucher confirmed his desire of bringing AB de Villiers back in the national team and said that he was open to have a discussion with him as well.
“When you go to a World Cup you want your best players playing for you. Why wouldn’t I want to have a conversation with him?. I might have conversations with quite a few players and see where they are. You want your best players playing in the World Cup and if there’s a couple of issues you need to iron out, with media, with team-mates, and if it’s for the good of South Africa, why not, let’s do it,” Boucher shared.
