He said he would love to try playing the game casually with his kids, and then the rest of the decisions will be made from there.
Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has hinted at a possible return to cricket. The star batsman, who last played an international match in 2018 and his last IPL match in 2021, is considering playing again.
However, he made it clear that he only plans to play occasional cricket and has no intention of returning to RCB or IPL.
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De Villiers hints at return to cricket
In an interview, AB de Villiers stated that he might consider returning to cricket, mainly because his children encourage him to do so. He is willing to try casual cricket for fun rather than competing professionally in the IPL or South Africa.
De Villiers said his left eye is a little blurry, but his dominant right is fine and that’s enough to take a risk. He said he would love to try playing the game casually with his kids, and then the rest of the decisions will be made from there.
“He may still play cricket one day, without any confirmation. But I’m starting to feel like my kids are putting a bit of pressure on me and I feel like I could go online with them. My son can feed me bowling machine balls and if I enjoy it, maybe I’ll go out and go play a bit of informal cricket somewhere again and not professional IPL or SA Tours stuff. Who knows? Who knows? But we’ll see,” De Villiers said.
“I’m going to try it again and see if this eye still works. It’s a little blurry, but this is the dominant one and it works well. “So I will do it for my children and see if I can go out and enjoy cricket again, even if it is very casual and then we will see where we draw the line,” he added.
De Villiers rules out RCB return, prefers informal cricket
AB de Villiers mentioned that he might return to cricket but it would be on a very casual basis and not in high-pressure situations like playing for RCB or in professional leagues. You want to keep it light and fun, and most of your experience would involve your kids.
De Villiers shared that his priority is his family and he values spending time with them. He expressed a desire to create memories with his children by playing cricket together, letting them bowl, watch and join him in having fun. For him, cricket has always been a part of who he is, so he sees no reason to completely step away from it, even if it’s just for fun.
When asked if he had been inspired by Imran Tahir, De Villiers praised him as one of his favorite players and someone he would always want in his team.
“Maybe, maybe. Nothing serious though. We are not talking about RCB and important things here. “I don’t want to feel that pressure again, that’s the thing,” he further added.
“So wherever I go, I’m going to have some fun, you know? I want to do it with my children and I want to feel happy to be here. Because ultimately, that’s why you would abandon something you’ve done your whole life. It’s like I want to be with my family and I don’t want to be here anymore, you know? So now I can take them and we can go have some fun together. I want my children to see. I want them to bowl and play and whatever the case may be. The sky is the limit and I feel like, you know, it’s always been a part of me. So there is no use turning your back on that,” he concluded.
In T20 format, AB de Villiers played 340 matches and scored a total of 9424 runs. His highest is 133*, he has an average of 37.24 and a strike rate of 150.13, along with 4 hundreds and 69 half-centuries.
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