South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis on Wednesday (January 15) hinted that AB de Villiers can possibly return to the national side ahead of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.
Du Plessis has also made it clear that he would welcome his former teammate with open arms in the national team after the batting legend expressed his desire of playing for his country in the upcoming T20I World Cup 2020 which will be played in Australia from this October.
Former Proteas skipper is currently in Australia playing his trade for the Brisbane Heat in the ongoing ninth edition of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2019-2020 where he told local reporters that he was keen to make comeback for the South African side.
Having retired from international cricket in 2018, De Villiers had reportedly tried to come out of his retirement ahead of the 2019 World Cup, making himself available for selection, but the Cricket South Africa (CSA) selectors felt it was too late.
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But this time, the batting superstar doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to play in the upcoming showpiece event in Australia, as the Mr. 360 is in constant touch with South Africa head coach Mark Boucher, CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith and captain du Plessis about his possible return to the national team for the T20 World Cup 2020.
Ahead of South Africa's third Test against England, du Plessis said: “It's the same as what I mentioned before. We spoke and I was very keen to have him back even before the new coaching staff was on board. It was a process of what does the next year looks like in terms of T20 cricket.”
However, the skipper admitted that de Villiers too wants to make a comeback to the national side, but does not know the time of his return at the moment.
Du Plessis further added, “How many games, where, when, what? And then try to unfold that in a way that he can come back. He's keen to come back. I don't know when. In an ideal world, we would like to make sure we can play our best 11, 12, 13 players for a few games or in a few series leading up to a T20 World Cup.”
(With AFP Inputs)
