South Africa Rejected AB de Villiers' Offer To Play World Cup 2019

In a shocking revelation that has come to the fore, AB de Villiers had reportedly made a remarkable last-minute offer to come out of international retirement for the ongoing World Cup. However, South Africa had turned down the proposal as they kept in players who have toiled hard for the national team in recent months.

AB de Villiers had dropped a huge bombshell last year when he brought an abrupt end to his illustrious international career. Just days before announcing his retirement, he had helped South Africa beat India and Australia in Test series at home. He was the standout performer for his side as he played all the seven Tests. The legendary batsman scored six fifties and a hundred in the seven Tests and was instrumental to South Africa’s success.

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Since his retirement, there were speculations that de Villiers might opt out of the decision. However, the legendary batsman always stuck by his decision while speaking publicly. However, ESPNcricinfo has now reported that de Villiers had offered to play for South Africa just hours before the team announced their final 15-man squad for the World Cup.

The former South Africa skipper had approached South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis, head coach Ottis Gibson and convenor of selectors Linda Zondi to make the offer. However, the team-management told him his selection was not possible. According to people privy to the talks, de Villiers’ request was “not even considered”.

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The report claimed that there were two reasons behind de Villiers getting the rejection. The first one was that de Villiers had retired in May 2018, exactly a year before the World Cup was scheduled. Thereafter, he did not fulfil the selection criteria, which included playing South African domestic cricket or international cricket in the intervening months. Secondly, the team-management felt that including de Villiers would have been unfair on the players who have been performing in his absence.

The news comes on the back of South Africa’s disastrous campaign in the World Cup. The Proteas are on the brink of elimination after losing their opening three games. On Wednesday, they suffered a crushing 6-wicket loss at the hands of India.  South Africa may now need to win all six of its remaining group fixtures to stand a chance of progressing ahead.

De Villiers will go down as one of the finest ever batsmen in the history of the game. He scored a staggering 20,014 international runs (8765 in Tests, 9577 in ODIs and 1672 in T20Is). The right-hander also finished his career with a batting average over 50 in both Tests, and ODIs. He also holds the record for the fastest 50, fastest 100 and fastest 150 in ODIs, all coming against the Windies. The batting stalwart smashed a 31-ball 100 in Johannesburg in 2015 and hit a 66-ball 162 in the 2015 World Cup encounter in Sydney.

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