Dale Steyn Hints At T20 Retirement After T20 World Cup 2020

South Africa legend Dale Steyn is likely to call time on his international career after this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia. But at the same time, he has stated that he would remain committed to making himself available for South Africa in white-ball cricket until then.

Dale Steyn, who retired from Tests in August last year and has not played for the national team in 11 months, will finally return for the Proteas in the upcoming three-match T20I series against England at home.  The right-arm pacer will be looking to bolster his case for this year’s marquee event.

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And while he has set his sight on the upcoming T20 World Cup, he has no concrete plans for the same tournament next year. In fact, Dale Steyn had no idea that there are two T20 World Cup tournaments in successive years although he did not sound too excited over the next year’s edition. The legendary pacer stated that he would take a final call after this year’s tournament.

“Is there another T20 World Cup? Next year? Wow, that’s short-lived. So if we win it, we only win for a year,” Steyn was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. “This one would be a nice one to go to and then finish off and reassess after the end of this year and then I will kind of figure out what I want to do.”

Dale Steyn further stated that he still has a lot of desire to play cricket. He made it clear that he is desperate to get back on the field and outsmart the batsmen.

“I love playing cricket. I wake up every day and I can’t see myself doing anything else right now. I am just putting my hand up and saying I’m available, pick me, don’t pick me and then we’ll see how it goes to the World Cup.

“As long as that drive is there to still play at the highest level, and get batters out and fox them and outsmart them and all that kind of stuff, if I can do that, I am going to continue to do that. And then once I can’t do that anymore, well once I decide that I don’t want to do it anymore, then I’ll be done,” he said.

The veteran pacer recently plied his trade in the Mzansi Super League and the Big Bash League. And going by his performance, one can say that he still has a lot to offer. He was the third-highest wicket-taker in the MSL with 15 wickets. A good outing in the upcoming series will more or less see him cement his place in the team.