Want to enter CT 2017 with confidence of beating any team: AB de Villiers

Team South Africa is all set to take on England in the first of the 3-match ODI series in England. The short ODI series is expected to serve as the preparatory series for the two competing sides for the upcoming edition of the Champions Trophy. South African skipper AB de Villiers is very excited about the prospects of the series and is keen on making the most out of the series.

As per the recent quotes in Cricbuzz, AB de Villiers remarked that things just cannot align themselves any better. The team will be playing England in England. This will surely help them in the Champions Trophy since the mega event will be hosted by the same nation. The Proteas skipper wishes to do well in the series and hence head into the CT 2017 riding on winning momentum.

“It doesn’t get any better than playing in England before a big tournament against the hosts in a competitive ODI series. The trick is to make sure that you still perform well. There is no use going down and feeling low on confidence going into the tournament. The secret for us is to compete as well as we can and try to get out on top in this series to go to the Champions Trophy feeling like we can beat anyone,” quoted AB de Villiers.

On Champions Trophy

He further added that winning the big ICC event will be major achievement. South Africa were the winners of the inaugural edition of the tournament that was named as ICC Knockout Trophy. AB is all pumped to kick start the preparations on a high.

“It [The Champions Trophy] is an ICC event with the top eight teams in the world competing for a trophy, it will be a great achievement to win it. We know we have to go through a big process to get to the final and it starts tomorrow here in Leeds. We are excited to get things going,” he quoted.

On high scoring games

When asked if a high scoring game would be on the cards in the first ODI, AB de Villiers cited that all of it would depend on the conditions. Ever since the 2015 edition of the ICC World Cup, South Africa and England have been the two teams who have breached the total of 350 on most occasions. England have done it 8 times and Proteas have done it on 6 occasions.

“It depends where you play. It differs from each ground but at Headingley the scores seem to be high in the last few years. Wherever you go it’s important to adapt, to see what kind of score will be good to defend or to set. It’s all about adapting to the different situations you will be confronted with in England,” conceded de Villiers.

On Kolpak departures

In the recent times, the South African team has seen a massive shift of momentum with some of the big names of their side signing the Kolpak deals. The likes of Rilee Rossouw and Kyle Abbott were two big names that parted ways from South African cricket. AB de Villiers looked unfazed with their departures though. He noted that the team needs to focus on what is in hand at the moment and not on what is not.

“We are not harping on too much on what we lost, rather focusing on what we have gained over the last few months. Yes, here are quite a few talented guys we have lost, which is not good for our depth at home. There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s part and parcel of what we are confronted with in recent times. We can’t stop guys from going where they want to go and playing cricket where they want to play cricket. I feel it’s something of the past,” he conceded.