4 players who can replace AB de Villiers in the South African team for 2019 World Cup 

Last night AB de Villiers surprised everyone by announcing his retirement from all formats of international cricket. Though his retirement from Test cricket was something the fans saw coming, his decision to call it a day from all three formats left the fans shocked.

With just one year to go for the 2019 ICC World Cup, the tournament that was considered as AB's last chance to win a World Cup, the retirement has put South Africa's World Cup plans in jeopardy.

But, the Proteas have never been short of finding good replacements as they have a lot of batsmen in the domestic circuit who have the potential to make it big in international cricket.

Let us take a list of five batsmen who can replace AB de Villiers in the 2019 World Cup.

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Christiaan Jonker

South Africa v India - T20 International

49 runs off 24 balls on his international debut against a world-class Indian bowling attack that had the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav is enough to make a statement.

Christiaan Jonker has surely made a name for himself in the T20I. He has a fantastic domestic record that will make even AB de Villiers proud. He has scored 2841 runs in his List A career with an average of nearly 40 and has a strike-rate of 103.

Jonker getting into the side will be a like for like replacement for the great man de Villiers.

Aiden Markram

South Africa v India - 1st Momentum ODI

The moment Aiden Markram led South Africa to win in the 2014 under-19 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, it was very evident that it is just a matter of time before he makes it to the national team. Being hailed as a future Protea skipper, Markram was handed his international cap during the Test series against Bangladesh and has looked good in the longer formats.

He has played a handful of ODIs for his team in which he averages 27 and has captained the Proteas in just his third ODI for his country. Markram has a good record in his brief List A career and the South African team management will back him to replace a batsman like AB de Villiers in the ODI side.

Theunis de Bruyn

2018 Australia Tour to SA: South Africa Training Session and Press Conference

Theunis de Bruyn is one of the most exciting names to watch out for in the South African domestic circuit as he has everything in him to become South Africa's next big thing with the bat across all three formats. Last year, he was called into the Proteas' national side and has played five Tests and two T20Is so far.

Though he has done nothing substantial, his domestic track record is one of the best in the country. With 1234 runs in 35 List A innings, de Bruyn averages 41.13 in the format and scores his runs at a strike-rate of 85.

These numbers are evidence that the right-hander will be a pillar in SA's batting order and has everything in him to replace de Villiers in the ODI squad.

Heinrich Klaasen

CRICKET-RSA-IND

Heinrich Klaasen announced himself in International cricket by playing a match-winning innings against India in an ODI at the Wanderers. He followed it up with yet another match-winning innings against the Indians at the same venue a couple of weeks later.

Those two knocks helped him get a contract with Rajasthan Royals in the IPL as a replacement for Steve Smith. With AB de Villiers retiring, this is the right time for the South African selectors to back the wicketkeeper-batsman as a replacement for the former skipper.

Playing for the same team as AB, Klaasen has scored 1277 List A runs at an average of 35.47 and a strike-rate of over 90.