Johannesburg: Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has said that he is keen to make a return to the national side for the T20 World Cup but for that he wants to be in the “tip-top” form and better than the next player in contention.
However, with the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, there is uncertainty over the T20 World Cup — slated to be played in October-November in Australia — itself.
“Yes, that is my worry the schedule for next 12 months is unclear the virus is hitting and what is going to happen with the cricket schedule around the world,” de Villiers said while speaking on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected show.
“That is one of my big worries and reasons why I am not committing to any cricket at the moment.
“I want to focus but there is a lot of uncertainty in terms of scheduling of cricket over the next 12 months we will have to see what is going to happen,” he added.
The former Proteas skipper played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20s for the national side before his retirement in 2018. South Africa head coach Mark Boucher had earlier stated that de Villiers would be considered in the national team for the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia only if he shows good form and proves himself to be the “best man for the job”.
“The desire to get me involved with the Proteas have been shown by Cricket South Africa as well. With Mark Boucher as coach and Graeme Smith as Director, they are keen to get me involved which is very pleasing to hear,” said de Villiers.
“I hope everything works out and there a few things that need to fall in place. The most important thing to me is I have to be in the tip-top form and I have to be better than the player next to me.
“If I deserve a spot in the side it becomes easy for me to feel like I deserve to be in the side and I have earned my spot.
“I have not been in the Proteas side for a while and I think that is important for myself and for other people as well to see if I am still good enough to play them,” he added.
The 36-year-old however admitted that he is uncertain of his participation in the T20 World Cup should the tournament be postponed to next year.
“Yes things might change if the tournament might get postpone to 2021, I don’t know honestly it is something I don’t want to commit to at the moment, because of the past experiences really getting hurt in the past by committing to certain things I wasn’t 100 per cent sure of. Not communicating to the right people at the right time,” he said.
“I really want to get right this time once I feel I am 100 per cent ready to commit to avail myself to South Africa for T20 World Cup whenever that happens with good communication to Mark Boucher, Graeme Smith and whoever to communicate with then I will get to a point where ok let’s put it out there I am 100 per cent available without getting picked or not but I am prepared to put myself out there and give it a full go,” he added.
The swashbuckling batsman also revealed that during the current lockdown period, he is keeping himself busy with his wife and kids, watching TV series and working on his fitness.
