South Africa head coach Mark Boucher has explained the reason behind AB de Villiers' decision to stay retired from international cricket.
AB de Villiers, who is also known as Mr. 360, left the entire cricket fraternity in shock in 2018 by announcing his retirement from international cricket.
However, since the last few months, there have been some talks that AB de Villiers might return to international cricket following his excellent form in T20 leagues across the world.
Even South African head coach Mark Boucher and Director of Cricket Graeme Smith also hinted that swashbuckling batsman might return for the T20 World Cup.
If this was not enough AB de Villiers himself reiterated that he is open to coming out of retirement and playing for South Africa in the lead up to the T20 World Cup if there is space for him in the senior national team.
But Cricket South Africa has now confirmed that swashbuckling batsman is not coming back to international cricket. Talking about the same South African head coach Mark Boucher called the development unfortunate.
He added that his decision not to return to international cricket comes from the idea of him taking someone else's place in the playing XI, which he fully respects.
"AB has his reasons, which I respect. Unfortunately, he’s no longer in the mix. I say unfortunately because I think we all agree that he’s still one of the best – if not the best – T20 players in world cricket.
“But he alluded to being concerned about coming in ahead of other players who have been a part of the system. I don’t think it sat well with him, which I understand,” Mark Boucher told The Citizen.
Boucher further said that as a coach he tries to get the best players for the team and having AB de Villiers in the team is an energy booster but they should move forward now.
"As a coach, I needed to try and get our best players, for the team and the environment. AB is an energy booster in any environment, but I respect his reasoning. It was worth a go, but now let’s move forward," he said.
In 420 international matches, AB de Villiers amassed 20,014 runs to go with 47 centuries.
(The Citizen inputs)
