CRICKET
AB De Villiers to keep on playing IPL ‘for a few years’
In May, the batsman announced his retirement from international cricket, however, he didn’t clarified if he’d play professional leagues or not.
After announcing his retirement from international cricket in May, AB De Villiers has acknowledged he still wants to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL), stating that he also hopes to keep on playing for his domestic franchise, the Titans.
‘I will keep on playing IPL for a few years, and I would like to play for the Titans, and help some of the youngsters. But there are no set plans. I haven't been able to say that for a long time,’ de Villiers told South African news site IOL.
‘There are some offers on the table from around the world, but it will be nice to wake up and wonder what to do; to be normal.’
The talented South African batsman holds the world record for the fastest half-century (16 balls), hundred (31 balls) and 150 (64 balls) in ODIs.
He retired with a staggering 20,014 international runs (8765 in Tests, 9577 in ODIs and 1672 in T20Is) and a batting average over 50 in Tests (50.66) and ODIs (53.50).
No World Cup medal for De Villiers
It was widely expected that De VIlliers would continue to play till the 2019 World Cup, however, the international retirement of the batsman also meant that he would end his career without a World Cup winner’s medal.
However, he has now stated that he had made peace with that fact.
‘For a long time, the World Cup was a massive goal,’ de Villiers said. ‘But, in the last few years, I have realised that it isn't realistic to measure yourself purely on what you achieve in that tournament. That will not be the be-all and end-all of my career.
‘Yes, I would have loved to win it, but I have great memories from World Cups. The 2007 tournament - my first - was very special. We fell short against Australia when we tried to play too much cricket too soon, but that shift in mentality probably helped us to go over there and win the Test series we then won over there. Personally, I scored my first ODI century in that 2007 tournament, and I loved the whole experience of being in the Caribbean.
‘The same goes for the others, in 2011 and in 2015. India has always been close to my heart, because of the passion for cricket, and then obviously 2015 was an amazing game.’