AB de Villiers rubbishes rumours of being asked to lead South Africa

Tags: South Africa, Abraham Benjamin de Villiers

Published on: Apr 30, 2020

Retired former South African skipper AB de Villiers has dismissed reports that he has been approached to come out of retirement and lead the national team. This was after a TV channel quoted de Villiers as saying that such an offer has been made to him by the South African cricket board.

However, de Villiers took to his official Twitter handle to deny the report. "Reports suggesting Cricket SA have asked me to lead the Proteas are just not true. It's hard to know what to believe these days. Crazy times. Stay safe everyone," the ex-South African player clarified.

Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected' put out a press release, in which they quoted AB as saying he has been "asked by Cricket South Africa to lead the Proteas again." de Villiers retired from international cricket in 2018, but has been contemplating a comeback for a while in the wake of the team's struggles in his absence.

The cricketer has, however, stated that he will only make a comeback if he feels he is still good enough to play at the top level.

"The most important thing to me is that I have got to be in top form and I have got to be better than the player next to me. If I feel I deserve my spot in the side, it becomes much easier for me to feel that I should be part of the playing XI," he said.

"I have not been part of the Proteas for a while and I feel that it's important for myself and for other people to see that I am still good enough to be there," he further added.

South African coach Mark Boucher also conceded that de Villiers is in running for a spot in the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia. However, he will need to prove that he is the "best man for the job".

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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