AB de Villiers is not cherry-picking formats and opponents: Haroon Lorgat

The South African star batsman AB de Villiers has been out of the side for a long time due to an elbow injury and there have been several speculations of late about him considering retirement from Test cricket. He declared himself unavailable for the Test series against New Zealand which made the claims even stronger that he would give up the longest format.

But Haroon Lorgat, the Chief Executive of Cricket South Africa has cleared the air by saying that AB is conserving himself in the sight of a busy 2017. As he is the ODI captain, the focus is on his ODI return considering the Champions Trophy to be played in England.

He was quoted as saying, “This is a plan that we had six months ago, it’s just a case of when he starts or when he returns. Because once he starts, there’s no stopping and no time off. When you play, you play continuously. So he’s not picking and choosing. These are deliberate discussions that we’re having and which will continue.”

Despite the absence of AB, the South African side has done well in the recent past in Test cricket. They defeated Australia in their own backyard and gave a hammering to Sri Lanka at home. The team looks well settled under the captaincy of Faf du Plessis and hence AB being out of the side hasn’t produced too much trouble for them and hence his ODI return is more important considering the packed schedule to follow.

Also read- Adam Voges set to retire after captaining Prime Minister’s XI next month

“ODI cricket is the focus because he’s the captain. There’s no picking and choosing in that regard but with test cricket‚ it’s different because he’s not the captain and we’ve got a settled side and we’ve got the resources. If he wasn’t the captain of the ODI side‚ it might have been different and that’s the same with the T20 side”, Lorgat added.

AB himself announced that he is not retiring from Test cricket but his focus is currently on the ODIs and the 2019 ODI World Cup. It’s been close to a year since he last played a Test match and it makes a lot of sense for him to prioritize his workload at the age of 32. He recently made the announcement of his wife expecting their second child and that also heavily influences his future as a cricketer.

“What we’ve tended to do is to take things a series at a time. I’m confident by the time we get to the Champions Trophy and the England series‚ he’ll be fully fit and raring to go. Hopefully his appetite will have returned with the amount of time he will have had away from the game. Family circumstances do change people but I’m confident England is the type of series he’d want to be available for‚” Lorgat said

“If the team feels they’ve got a winning formula going‚ AB is fully aware that it’s the selectors who’ll determine whether they want him back or not. Once you step on the playing treadmill‚ there’s no turning back”, the former ICC Chief Executive added.