AB de Villiers has confirmed he will continue playing in the IPL for a ‘few years’ following his retirement from international cricket.
The 34-year-old will no longer don the South Africa colours after calling it quits in May after the Test series against Australia.
Two months on from that announcement, de Villiers revealed he has no plans to turn his back on T20 cricket and wishes to play on for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“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,” de Villiers was quoted as saying by iol.co.za.
“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.”
Happy memories: De Villiers was a key player for South Africa
With the World Cup less than a year away, de Villiers had a chance to end his career with glory having experienced disappointment in three editions. But with a CV that sees him as the fourth-highest scorer for South Africa, 22 Test centuries and holding the record in ODI cricket for the fastest 50 (16 balls), 100 (31 balls) and 150 (64 balls), he said his career shouldn’t be measured on World Cup glory alone.
“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,” de Villiers 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. We fell on the wrong side of it, but we gave it everything,” he explained.
