AB de Villiers talks about taking over the captaincy from Graeme Smith

De Villiers and Smith during a Test match

South African one-day international team captain, AB de Villiers talked about the transition period which his team went through after senior players like Graeme Smith and Jaques Kallis got retired. He said that phase wasn't easy, especially after Smith.

The team is sitting comfortably on rank one position in International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test ranking currently.

“It was a very difficult time when Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and to an extent Makhaya Ntini retired,” De Villiers was quoted saying by Wisden India website. “Especially Graeme (Smith), who retired more recently. He started the culture many years back - a team culture that we are very proud of even now.”

He continued by saying that too many changes were brought in after Smith left because the current crop of cricketers are completely different compared to the former members.

“When he retired, there were a lot of changes in the team. A lot of senior guys, myself included took over. The way Graeme led the side was a lot different to what’s happening now. For a while, we were hanging on to what Graeme used to do and after a few months we realised that we had to let go of a certain few things that he used to do.

“We’re now a lot different to what the previous generation were. But we’re confident of where we’re headed and enjoy the culture that’s still in place.”

Besides captaining the one-day side, De Villiers is also vice-captain of the Test team and his contribution has made him one of the most important players of the team. De Villiers said he enjoys captaining the Proteas side.

“Captaincy has been hard work, honestly,” he said. “It’s a great honour and privilege but with the pleasure and pride that comes with captaincy, there is also a lot of hard work and sacrifices. But it comes naturally when you do something with a lot of passion and I really enjoy leading South Africa.”

The Proteas team will be travelling to India to play Mahatma Gandhi - Nelson Mandela series in the upcoming month. The series include four Tests, 5 ODIs and 3 Twenty20 matches, which will be played in the span of 72 days.

De Villiers and the team will be eager to prove themselves in the subcontinent as their most of the players have an ample amount of experience of the playing conditions because of their participation in the Indian Premier League.