Former South Africa cricketer Jonty Rhodes on Tuesday (March 10) said that the Proteas must do anything to win the T20 World Cup, including the option of persuading AB de Villiers to come out of international retirement.
See Also: Mark Boucher may convince AB de Villiers to come out of international retirement
De Villiers, who called time on his international cricket career in May 2018, has previously grabbed headlines with reports of his international return. Ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2019, the South African batting maverick reportedly made himself available for the mega event, only for CSA to reject the offer.
"I'm a big fan of AB de Villiers. I'm just not sure of the precedent. If you want to win a T20 World Cup, you should do anything to win it," Rhodes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"I suppose a lot of people watch how he performed at the IPL but just watching him in the Big Bash, he's such a class player."
The seventh edition of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be played in Australia from October 18 to November 15.
"I think it's interesting because it's a tough call. You want your best team to play, it's also tough on the guys who then miss out. You know AB is a very special player so then do you set a precedent for a guy like AB de Villiers if he is not playing for South Africa, I mean why are you selecting him," Jonty asserted.
He, however, also felt a move like bringing back De Villiers might mean leaving out a player who would be in contention in the lead-up to the tournament.
"You are not breaking any rules, you are setting a slight precedent and you are going to be upsetting a few players who are going to miss out. But a team without AB de Villiers or a team with AB de Villiers... I'd love to see that guy play," Rhodes said.
"Although difficult to answer that because I'm not somebody who is missing out, I'm also not from the administration about setting this kind of precedent, so I don't have to make that call. It'll just be great to see AB de Villiers play at a World Cup again for us," he concluded.
