PORT ELIZABETH: South African batting icon A.B. de Villiers
has said his near two-year Test break has enabled him to prepare
thoroughly for his comeback in a one-off day-night Test against
Zimbabwe, starting on Tuesday.
“I’ve had a great
pre-season, which I haven’t had for 13 years,” he said in an interview
with South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper.
The big
challenge for de Villiers and his team-mates, though, is what happens
after the four-day clash against Zimbabwe — a three-Test tour by number
one team India, starting in Cape Town on Jan 5.
“I’m
very excited that they are going to be touring in South Africa. I
haven’t played against India for a while now, so it’s going to be a
really good series,” said de Villiers.
India will be led by his Indian Premier League
team-mate Virat Kohli. “I’d say Virat is one of the best captains at the
moment, the most improved — there’s a big change from when I first saw
him captaining to now.”
De Villiers was the captain when
he last played Test cricket, against England in January 2016. Since
then he’s battled injury, taken a break from the long form of the game
and handed over the captaincy to former school team-mate Faf du Plessis.
“I think that Faf has all the credentials to make a
really successful captain. I believe he has the potential to become the
best captain South Africa has seen so far,” he said.
De
Villiers told reporters in Port Elizabeth he had been practising against
a red ball at the University of Pretoria since the end of July,
“getting some technical stuff sorted out . . . I have been working for
the last six months to get ready for this.”
Since
arriving in Port Elizabeth, he has batted against the type of pink ball
which will be used in the Test match. He said batting under lights had
been tricky.
“I faced a few pink balls last night on a
spicy wicket, it was slightly tough,” he said. “But then again it’s a
great challenge. It’s the ultimate form of the game. It’s the greatest
challenge to come out on top with batting when the ball is moving around
in Test cricket.
“I pride myself in the fact that I can adapt to certain conditions and formats.”
De
Villiers did not see much difference between the formats. “It’s a
mindset, a little tweak here and there. You have to have more patience
with the red ball but you still have to play cricket strokes, it’s not
like you are playing rugby, it is still cricket.
“As long as you respect the conditions, sum up what is going on in a match situation, you can make it work.”
He
allayed fears about the stiff lower back that kept him out of the
three-day warm-up match against Zimbabwe in Paarl and was looking
forward to a fruitful outing.
“I want to contribute. I
want to play knocks, have my say in the field with my experience and
take some catches that can win games of cricket,” he said.
After hosting India, South Africa will take on Australia in a four-Test series in March and April.
“We
would like to be number one in the world, we are not far away. We know
if we win a few series in the next three months against tough opposition
we can achieve that,” de Villiers said. “We will take it one step at a
time. That will be nice to achieve, to be the number one team in the
world and to maintain it for a few years.”
