Graeme Smith indicates a possible return of AB de Villiers along with Chris Morris and Imran Tahir for the T20 World Cup

Graeme Smith indicates a possible return of AB de Villiers along with Chris Morris and Imran Tahir for the T20 World Cup

AB de Villiers

There has been a lot of discussion lately among Cricket South Africa about the potential return of AB de Villiers to the national team set up after his retirement in 2018. de Villiers has been very open about the prospect of a comeback in recent times and so have the selectors. The wicket-keeper batsman last played a match for South Africa in 2018 when he appeared in a Test against Australia.

Since then, he has only played franchise cricket. Despite the lack of time with the national team, de Villiers has been in terrific form for his T20 league franchises. Even in the recently suspended 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the South African looked in top touch.

This led to South African head coach Mark Boucher imply that de Villiers could make a comeback. In fact de Villiers himself had stated that he would want to. “It will be fantastic to play for South Africa again, I will be speaking with Boucher at the end of IPL – last year, he asked me whether I am interested and I said ‘absolutely,” said AB De Villiers.

AB de Villiers set to return to the national team

Graeme Smith
Graeme Smith

AB de Villiers is expected to return to international cricket in June, according to South African cricket director Graeme Smith, who gave full signs of his return on Thursday. “AB is a different discussion as he is retired and whether he comes out of retirement is an ongoing discussion,” said Graeme Smith.

Graeme Smith also spoke about the possibilities of a comeback for free agents like Chris Morris and Imran Tahir who have also played in T20 leagues around the world, but not for the national team in recent times.

“In terms of free agents, they are always available. They play in T20 leagues around the world and are gaining more experience in the format than most. We have seen the success the West Indies have had with that policy, so it would be considered by selectors. However, many factors go into that like team dynamics and the players in the system,” added Graeme Smith.

The South African squad will travel to the West Indies next month for a tour that will include two Tests and five Twenty20 matches.

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