"I feel the communication wasn't good enough there"- AB de Villiers on how his South Africa career came to a premature end
Former South African legendary cricketer AB de Villiers was delighted to know that South Africa's white-ball coach Rob Walter urged Quinton de Kock not to retire from international cricket altogether.
De Villiers shed light on the importance of players needing to get a bit of time away from cricket. He claimed that he couldn't communicate with the management after the 2015 World Cup heartbreak and that he needed a break. He felt that eventually took a toll on his remaining international career.
Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, here's what AB de Villiers had to say about his emotions after losing the semifinal of the 2015 Word Cup:
"I did struggle with it during the later stage of my career where I felt I didn't communicate well enough about how I was feeling. Especially after the 2015 World Cup, not winning it and just feeling flat, I wanted to get away. I feel the communication wasn't good enough there, shortening my international career at least by few years."
De Villiers also owned up on how he wanted to make a comeback for the Proteas for the 2019 World Cup and why that couldn't happen. He added:
"It's a very difficult thing to manage with other players representing South Africa in the series against India. They will feel they have worked so hard and now someone from the outside comes and says 'Hold on, I am ready again.' That happened to me as well. I put up my hand for the 2019 World Cup feeling like I was in the form of my life. I spoke to Faf on the cricket field and I said that I know it's completely selfish, I am sorry, but if you feel there's anyone who is out of form and a spot opens up, I will put my hand up. It completely backfired. I was called out all sort of names."
AB de Villiers on Temba Bavuma rested for ODIs and T20Is against India
AB de Villiers also praised the decision to rest skipper Temba Bavuma from the white-ball leg of the home series against India. He feels Bavuma will need the break to get charged up in the all-important Test series.
On this, AB de Villiers stated:
"Temba has been one of our best ODI batters. He is just getting rested to get ready for the Test series. It is always great to give players breaks between series to prepare for what could be a more intense series. He was also the captain of the South African team that got knocked out of the semifinal of the 2023 World Cup. So maybe just feeling the pressure and it's good to give him a week off and go get ready for the Test matches and come back firing."
South Africa are yet to lose a Test series on home soil against India and will look to keep that streak going.