Ever since Mark Boucher took over as the head coach of South Africa, he has given hints about including AB de Villiers in the T20I side as they plan and prepare for the T20 World Cup which is slated to be held later this year in Australia. Even though, de Villiers was not picked for the series against Australia, the head coach has given him and the other ‘free agents’ time to make themselves available after this year’s IPL.
“The big one is the IPL so we decided to let those guys – the free agents if you want to call them that – do the IPL and then afterwards make themselves available,” cricket.com.au quoted Boucher as saying.
“We’ve still got quite a few games (before the World Cup). From the first of June, which is the Sri Lanka tour, those guys need to make themselves available. Whether we select them is another story. But they need to make themselves available if they want to put their hands up for a World Cup spot,” he added.
De Villiers himself revealed that he was willing to make a comeback in order to make the cut for the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup.
“I would love to. I’ve been talking to ‘Bouch’ (new South Africa coach Mark Boucher), (new director of cricket) Graeme Smith and ( then captain) Faf (du Plessis) back home, we’re all keen to make it happen,” cricket.com.au had quoted De Villiers as saying.
“So I’m thinking of throwing my name in the hat and hoping that everything will work out,” he added.
The 35-year-old had announced his retirement from international cricket on May 23, 2018.
The ICC T20 World Cup 2020 will commence from October 18 and will conclude on November 15 in Australia.
