CSA confirms AB de Villiers to not comeback from retirement

AB de Villiers, South Africa’s superstar cricketer, will not be making his comeback from retirement. It was speculated that he will be picked for the upcoming tour of West Indies where the Proteas are scheduled to play two Tests and five T20 Internationals. Head coach Mark Boucher and De Villiers himself were optimistic of things going in the right direction for the latter to comeback.

However, when the squads for South Africa’s tours of West Indies and Ireland were announced on Tuesday (May 18), De Villiers’ name was missing. This raised a lot of eyebrows only until Cricket South Africa clarified in its press release that the discussions with the now retired cricketer ended with him deciding to not play for the country again.

There is no idea as to what transpired behind the scenes that AB de Villiers had to take such a decision. The man himself, during the now suspended IPL 2021, had confirmed that he and Boucher will discuss about possibility of returning to play for South Africa ahead of the T20 World Cup later this year.

“Discussions with AB de Villiers have concluded with the batsman deciding once and for all, that his retirement will remain final,” CSA said in its statement according to journalist Saj Sadiq.

AB de Villiers was in great form in IPL 2021

AB de Villiers, playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), was in great form during the 14th edition of the IPL. He had played multiple match-winning knocks for his team and had amassed 207 runs in six innings at an average of 51.75 and an amazing strike-rate of 164.29 while also hitting 16 fours and 10 massive sixes.

Meanwhile, in another shocking decision, CSA have decided not to include their top batsman Faf du Plessis in their ODI squad against Ireland and T20I squad against West Indies. He retired from Tests earlier this year but was expecting to contribute especially in the T20 format with the World Cup looming later in the year. It remains to be seen if he is not available or not considered for the tours.