Former South African captain AB de Villiers expressed happiness that Quinton de Kock received encouragement from the white-ball coach, Rob Walter, to not retire from international cricket entirely after the 2023 World Cup.
De Villiers revealed that he faced challenges due to a lack of communication after the 2015 ODI World Cup loss, which led to him eventually calling time on his international career in 2018. However, things were different for Quinton de Kock, who recently retired from ODI cricket only.
Reflecting on his own experiences, De Villiers revealed the impact of communication issues after the 2015 World Cup and how they affected his career. He also opened up about the challenges he faced in attempting to make a comeback for the 2019 World Cup.
AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel: “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 a few years.”
He continued, “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.”
De Villiers signed off by saying, “I spoke to Faf du Plessis 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 sorts of names.”
