AB De Villiers has gotten a lot of love and adulation in a career which had spanned for nearly 15 years. The South African was the crowd favorite every time across the world every time he went out to bat. The former South African skipper created a new niche in batting, which is now being taken to the next level by batters like Surya Kumar Yadav and Glenn Maxwell. Despite being away from the game for over two years, AB De Villiers has been time and again asked about a comeback.
The story so far –
AB De Villiers retired from international cricket in 2018, a move which shocked the world. Mr.360 as he is called then played the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore for a few more years. ABD then finally hung up his boots post the IPL 2021 season for his RCB side. Despite this, the faithful fans of RCB still chant his name when the going gets tough.
ABD speaks on potential comeback plans –
AB De Villiers was recently speaking to Robin Uthappa in the show Home of Heroes on Jio Cinema. The conversation eventually moved towards a potential comeback to cricket for the 38 year old former South African skipper.
ABD though was quick to shoot down the idea and said “Definitely. I could still play. But the drive is not there anymore. It’s always just about being the best. I want to be the best if I come back and I’ll want to compete with Surya and Kohli,”
Mr. 360’s take on impact player rule –
TATA IPL 2023 saw a new rule being introduced for the 1st time this season. The rule in question was the impact player which has gained a lot of rave reviews. Speaking on this and how it affects the game, ABD said “I definitely didn’t play enough cricket towards the back end of my career. I think that was the main thing. With this Impact Player I know a lot of people are celebrating it, it’s going to lengthen the careers of players. To me, I could never do that. I could never just play two or three months of the year because I want to be the best in the world, and you can’t do that if you play for three months of the year. Absolutely no chance,”
ABD rules out comeback to top flight cricket –
The former South African great has expressed satisfaction in staying retired. Despite the love of the fans and the repeated questions for a comeback, ABD’s quest for perfection has made sure he will stay retired. ABD rounded off the conversation by saying “Yes, you can practice for nine months. But nothing, nothing compares middle practice with being out there and competing. So, the minute that fire went off being the best in the world, I felt like, what? What am I doing? So, what exactly is going on now? So was tough the last few years in that regard as well. I felt like, you know what, I can still have my super knock here and there, but I don’t want to do that. I want to be the best,”