South Africa's AB de Villiers not to come out of international retirement

Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers has decided once and for all that his retirement will remain final. He informed Cricket South Africa (CSA) of his decision amidst all the comeback speculations that have been doing the rounds over the last few months.

Talks between AB de Villiers and Cricket South Africa went on for over a year. The cricket board wanted to bring the 37-year-old back on board for the originally scheduled 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia.

Last month, head coach Mark Boucher had stated that there was still a chance of AB de Villiers making a comeback. The former Proteas captain himself agreed that the door was still open, but as it stands, the talks weren’t as fruitful as expected.

“I did chat to him before he went to the IPL,” Boucher had said. “The conversation is still very much open. AB, being the person he is, he wanted to perform very well at the IPL, to prove to himself and everyone else that he is still a very key figure in world cricket and could dominate at that level. I said to him: ‘‘Go do your thing, and I'll give you a shout towards the back end of the IPL’’. So that is where we are with him.”

The CSA, in a statement released on Tuesday post announcing the squad for the West Indies tour, wrote:

“Discussions with AB de Villiers have concluded with the batsman deciding once and for all, that his retirement will remain final.”

AB de Villiers looked to be in great touch during IPL 2021

AB de Villiers, who was with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2021, was in brilliant touch during the now postponed tournament.

He was the pick of the RCB batters and had a massive role in the team’s success in the first half of the tournament.

Before the league was suspended indefinitely, AB de Villiers scored 207 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 164.28. Most of his runs came while batting on a sluggish surface in Chennai. He even registered two half-centuries in the tournament.