AB De Villiers shocked the cricketing world when he announced his retirement from the International cricket just after the IPL 11. However, there were speculations if he will continue playing IPL or not and he himself has answered this question.
In an interview with iol.co.za, de Villiers has revealed that he will continue playing in the IPL for at least a few years. “I will keep on playing IPL for a few years, and I would like to play for the Titans, and help some of the youngsters. But there are no set plans. I haven’t been able to say that for a long time,” he confirmed.
“There are some offers on the table from around the world, but it will be nice to wake up and wonder what to do; to be normal. Bangalore is a special place, a second home, really. I played my 100th Test there, and obviously, RCB is a massive part of my life. India as a country has taken me in, and it’s hard to explain what that feels like. I just play cricket.”
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Fans were disappointed after De Villiers announced his retirement as they wanted him to play till the 2019 World cup and keep the hope of a world cup medal alive. But in the video where he announced his retirement, he said that he has run out of gas “For a long time, the World Cup was a massive goal. But, in the last few years, I have realised that it isn’t realistic to measure yourself purely on what you achieve in that tournament. That will not be the be-all and end-all of my career,” he said.
“Yes, I would have loved to win it, but I have great memories from World Cups. The 2007 tournament – my first – was very special. We fell short against Australia when we tried to play too much cricket too soon, but that shift in mentality probably helped us to go over there and win the Test series we then won over there. Personally, I scored my first ODI century in that 2007 tournament, and I loved the whole experience of being in the Caribbean.
“The same goes for the others, in 2011 and in 2015. India has always been close to my heart, because of the passion for cricket, and then obviously 2015 was an amazing game,” he further said about the classic semi-final against New Zealand in which South Africa fell agonisingly short. “We fell on the wrong side of it, but we gave it everything.”
“I guess that once I acknowledged to myself that I didn’t have to measure my career on one tournament, place so much emphasis on it, it became easier to make my decision. “I also didn’t want to be picking and choosing my way through fixtures from now until then. It wouldn’t be fair,” he said.
De Villiers love for RCB and India is not a hidden secret now and he said Bangalore is like his second home.
“Bangalore is a special place, a second home, really. I played my 100th Test there, and obviously RCB is a massive part of my life. India as a country has taken me in, and it’s hard to explain what that feels like. I just play cricket,” he said.
