AB de Villiers left the cricketing world in shock when he announced his retirement from international cricket in 2018. His decision to hang his boots came as a surprise to many, considering his age, form and fitness level. The South African veteran, however, continued to play franchise cricket around the world.
As per media reports, ABD made a last-minute effort to make a comeback into the Proteas side ahead of the ODI World Cup last year. But the South African team management turned down his proposal. De Villiers comeback continues to remain the talk of the town as speculations over his future in international cricket intensifies.
Speculations have been on the rise ever since Mark Boucher has been appointed the head coach of South Africa. Boucher has already stated on multiple occasions that he won’t be shying away from summoning the Proteas star back into the side.
De Villiers, meanwhile, remained coy on his potential retirement U-turn ahead of the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia. He would take a final call on his international comeback only after plying his trade for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.
“Let’s wait and see what happens. My focus is on the Indian Premier League at the moment and helping Royal Challengers Bangalore realize our full potential. Then we will sit down and have a look at the rest of the year and see what is possible,” De Villiers said as quoted by Sportstar.
While the South African feels that workload management is a personal call, he does believe that the mental and physical demand on the top stars is massive thanks to the non-stop cricket action.
“Each player must consider his own circumstances and make his own decision. I reached a point where I wanted to see more of my wife and two young sons and seek a reasonable balance between family and cricket. The mental and physical demands on the leading players are massive these days, but each player must decide what he can and can’t do,” he pointed.
