Former South African batsman, AB de Villiers went on to announced his retirement from international cricket in 2018 and it left the Proteas as they had to find a replacement for him ahead of the 50-over World Cup in 2019. Faf du Plessis, then the South Africa captain, knew they “desperately” needed someone like de Villiers in the team, but now he went on to reveal why he did not try to convince his close friend to make a comeback for the Proteas squad.
Talking about the same with R Ashwin on his Youtube channel, Du Plessis said, “When AB left, it was really tough for me, because I depended a lot on him, as a friend, and obviously like the best player in the team. When he said that to me, said he was done, my first instinct was, ‘I’m here for you, and I’ll support you, if you feel like you’re at the end of your career and you don’t want to do it anymore, then that’s okay – I support that decision 100 percent’.”
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He further elaborated, “As a captain, I was like – ‘how do we move forward without AB, how do we get the same performances?’ But the friend in me trumped the captain in me. And I just said, ‘We’re going to miss you, are you sure?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I am 100 percent sure, I don’t want to play international cricket anymore. I don’t have the drive to do it anymore. So I am stopping.'”
AB de Villiers has had a conversation with the South Africa team management over him making a comeback in the national squad ahead of the 2020 T20 World Cup, but with the tournament postponed and the next T20 World Cup will now be taking place in 2021, doubts have been cast on his potential international comeback.
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Both du Plessis and de Villiers will be seen in action in the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which will begin on September 2019. While Faf du Plessis will be playing for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), AB De Villiers will be playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
