Why ABD's Retirement Came At The Wrong Time

#2 The 2019 World Cup

de Villiers during the 2015 world cup

The 2019 edition of the ICC World Cup is scheduled to be held in England and Wales from 30th May next year. Having already captained the team for some time, ABD would have been the most experienced player in the squad.

In the last edition, ABD had led the team from the front by scoring the third most runs as a captain in a World Cup. Another tryst with rain coupled with some jaw-dropping hitting by Grant Elliott halted the South African force in the semifinals and the team would need all the experience that they can have in order to shed the habit of having brain fades in bigger tournaments.

Without the burden of captaincy, de Villiers would have been able to play more freely as a batsman and think critically as part of the tactical core. Neither ABD the batsman nor ABD the fielder is replaceable, and now Cricket South Africa has a herculean task of finding someone to step into these big shoes.