'My focus is on...' - AB de Villiers breaks his silence on South Africa comeback

The transitional phase in South African cricket has seen the Proteas go through a topsy-turvy curve in the last year or so. While the likes of Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir, JP Duminy are some of the players to have bowed out of the gentlemen's game since the conclusion of ICC World Cup 2019, but what had hurt Proteas the most was the retirement of batting maestro AB de Villiers back in 2018.

There has been plenty of talks surrounding de Villiers making his international comeback for South Africa in the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2020 scheduled to be hosted by Australia in October 2020. While head coach Mark Boucher and captain Quinton de Kock have often opened up about their willingness to bring Mr 360 back in the squad, nothing has been done officially.

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Talking about his comeback plan to the international circuit, de Villiers said he will sit down with the team management after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 while adding his complete focus is on helping Royal Challengers Bangalore.

“Let’s wait and see what happens. My focus is on the Indian Premier League at the moment and helping Royal Challengers Bangalore realise our full potential. Then we will sit down and have a look at the rest of the year and see what is possible,” de Villiers said to a leading news agency.

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While de Villiers did try and make a comeback in the ICC World Cup 2019 but his proposal was rejected by the South Africa team management and eventually the Proteas experienced a torrid outing in the quadrennial event. Touching upon his decision to retire early in his career, de Villiers said he wanted to see his wife and two young sons more and strike a balance between family and cricket.

“Each player must consider his own circumstances and make his own decision. I reached a point where I wanted to see more of my wife and two young sons and seek a reasonable balance between family and cricket. The mental and physical demands on the leading players are massive these days, but each player must decide what he can and can’t do,” de Villiers said.