AB de Villiers birthday: Virat Kohli wishes ‘brother’; ABD to play T20 World Cup?
Will AB de Villiers come out of retirement to play the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year? As he celebrates his 36th birthday, fans await good news from "Mr 360"
FollowBengaluru: Former South African batsman AB de Villiers turned 36 today (February 17). India captain Virat Kohli led birthday wishes on social media on Monday even as fans waited for the star cricketer to come out of retirement.
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Kohli, who is currently in New Zealand for the two-Test series against the hosts, wrote on Twitter, “Happy bday brother. Wish you all the happiness and good health and lots of love to the family. See you soon @ABdeVilliers17.”
In recent times, there have been calls for De Villiers to return to international cricket. He was seen in action in Australia for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League (BBL) Twenty20 tournament.
During last year’s ICC World Cup 2019, it was revealed that the right-handed batsman wanted to return to cricket to play the ICC event. However, the South African selectors and the team management were not keen.
Now, the talk of his return is gain momentum. Even South Africa coach and former wicketkeeper-batsman Mark Boucher has hinted that they will welcome back De Villiers for the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.
Boucher, though, said De Villiers first needs to make himself available for selection.
“He's a discussion in the media and in the public but he is no discussion for me. I have had chats with him and we will probably know pretty soon what's going to happen with him,” Boucher was quotes as saying in espncricinfo.
“Like I said from day one when I took over, if we are going to a World Cup, I would like to have our best players there. If AB is in good form and he is raring to go and he makes himself available for the time we have asked him to be available; if he is the best man for the job, then he must go. It's not about egos or anything like that, it's about sending your best team to the World Cup to try and win that competition,” he added.
De Villiers played in 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is for South Africa. He will be playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in next month’s Indian Premier League (IPL 2020). The 13th edition of IPL starts on March 29.
