Jonty Rhodes wants AB de Villiers back in South Africa’s ICC T20 World Cup 2020 squad: The 2020 T20 World Cup will take place in Australia later this year as all the top-tier cricket playing nations of the world will fight against each other to achieve supremacy in the shortest format of the game. Recently, the Women’s T20 World Cup culminated with the hosts, Australia Women beating India Women in a lop-sided final to retain their championship successfully.
Speaking of the South African cricket team now, the Proteas have always been the chokers at big events because they always do well in the first round and then when it comes to the knockout matches, their players break down under the pressure. Their women’s team did not lose a match in the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup but still lost to Australia Women in a rain-marred semi-final match by 5 runs. In this situation, the experience is of the utmost importance.
The men’s team can learn a lesson from this defeat and hence, they should allow their veteran player AB de Villiers to take part in this year’s global event. South Africa Legends captain, Jonty Rhodes feels the same as he expressed his views about de Villiers’ future in a recent interview with ESPNCricinfo:
“I’m a big fan of AB de Villiers. I’m just not sure of the precedent. If you want to win a T20 World Cup, you should do anything to win it. I suppose a lot of people watch how he performed at the IPL but just watching him in the Big Bash, he’s such a class player,” Jonty Rhodes said.
When asked about his opinion whether the Royal Challengers Bangalore star should play for South Africa in the T20 World Cup, Rhodes replied:
“You are not breaking any rules, you are setting a slight precedent and you are going to be upsetting a few players who are going to miss out. But a team without AB de Villiers or a team with AB de Villiers… I’d love to see that guy play. It’ll just be great to see AB de Villiers play at a World Cup again for us,” Jonty Rhodes added.
