CT 2017: The Champions Trophy feels very good in my hands, chips AB de Villiers

Team South Africa is all set to start their campaign in the ongoing edition of the Champions Trophy. They will take on Sri Lanka in their first match of the tournament. Skipper AB de Villiers oozed confidence as he walked out for the press conference on the eve of the big game. The Proteas did not have a very good time in the ODI series that preceded the ICC mega event.

They were beaten by England 2-1 in the 3-match ODI series. However, the South African skipper has backed his boys to come up stronger in the tournament. He cheekily commented that the Champions Trophy is looking good in his hands and he would want to be the eventual holder of it. Also, he remarked that winning the tournament will help the camp be very confident in the 2019 World Cup as well since that is also scheduled to be played in England.

“I’d love to get my hands on it. It feels good in my hands actually, to be honest with you. I’d love to take that home one day,” AB de Villiers quoted.

“I think it will help a crazy lot if we can win this one for the 2019 World Cup. It’s again here in England. If you can do it once here, you can definitely repeat it. So yeah, lots of focus on this tournament. It’s a short tournament, so it’s not quite the same as the World Cup and not the same kind of challenges. But if you do get your rhythms right in this tournament and you get going, and if we do that, I think we’ll be difficult to stop,” he added further.

On losing ODI series against England

Commenting back on the ODI series against England, AB de Villiers defended his team’s lackluster show. He pointed out that the management focused more on testing the players of the squad than aiming to win. He, however, stayed on the fact that winning would have surely helped his team. It was the timing of the ODI series that made the thinking of the management get aligned elsewhere. But the team is happy with the final result nonetheless. They won the final ODI of the series.

“As difficult as it is for me to say, yes, it was definitely a warm-up for us. But I hate to say that because I hate losing games of cricket, as well. So it was a bit of a catch-22 to get that right message across to the boys. It was maybe a bit confusing at times. But if you do go into a series thinking that you want to play all 15 players, you’re not really focusing on just winning that series because your mind is a little bit elsewhere, so I think that’s what happened,” he quoted.

“So yes, I think we are peaking at the right time. We had a fantastic time at that last ODI, and we feel confident going into this first one tomorrow,” AB de Villiers added further.

On giving up Tests

In the recent times, there have been speculations about AB de Villiers quitting Test cricket. However, the Protea ODI skipper has quashed all such claims. He conceded that his focus is on winning an ICC major for the nation. That does not mean he is going to quit playing Test cricket.

“I haven’t given up Tests. I’ve decided to take a bit of time away from it to make sure that I am fresh for tournaments like this. And it’s worked pretty well so far. I’ve had some injury scares in the recent past, but luckily got through all that,” quoted de Villiers.

On captaining South Africa

Commenting on leading the team, the Protea skipper noted that the team boasts of some exceptional leaders. All the players have been very welcoming to him in the team management. Hence, there was no oddity after he arrived in the team camp after an injury layoff. He is keen on putting up good show for the team in the big tournament now.

“It has its challenges always, being captain of this team in any of the formats. But I’ve done it for quite a while now in the specific formats. I feel pretty comfortable with that. I’ve been well accepted by the side. There are not only one or two leaders in the team; we have got four or five really strong leaders, and we all have the right to have a voice at times and we all allow that as a leadership group,” AB de Villiers conceded.