Despite the fact that the retirement announcements of the South African stalwarts, AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn from international cricket, came as a shocker for their fans, but the RCB team director Mike Hesson reckons that the retired players are now free of the international pressure, they are very much polished ahead of the much-awaited 2020 season of the IPL.

With the T20 World Cup being canceled this year, the chance of watching AB de Villiers making an international comeback has demeaned further. But that hasn’t come in the way of his fitness as he was seen ending up in the winning team in three-team tournament, held by Cricket South Africa, last month. 

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Talking about the same during a virtual media conference on Wednesday, “Only a matter of weeks ago he took part in a match in South Africa and once again he was a standout player, having just come out of his living room. So that certainly showed the quality of player he is. Physically, he’s feeling good and refreshed.”

He further added, “And once again, he’s one of the few in the group that are absolutely chomping at the bit to get into training. He’s had very, very good franchise tournaments around the world the last 12 months and he’s in good touch.”

Meanwhile, even with Steyn, the hopes are always been high in the RCB camp. The veteran fast pacer, who retired from Tests last year but continues to appear in South Africa’s limited-overs setup, has been working on “improving his game” as per Hesson.

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Describing the same, Hesson said, “He’s developing his game. We saw some different deliveries that he’s been able to develop over the last six months. So he’s certainly not ready to retire yet, certainly very keen to make a contribution this IPL.”