Cricket South Africa fail to persuade AB de Villiers to play again

South Africa's AB de Villiers in action for Australian side Brisbane Heat

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has confirmed that AB de Villiers will not be coming out of international retirement to play in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Earlier this year there had been speculation that the 37-year-old was considering a comeback for October's tournament in India.

Despite de Villiers having not played any form of international cricket since announcing his retirement in May 2018 CSA has admitted it has held discussions with the former captain about a comeback.

"Discussions with AB de Villiers have concluded with the batsman deciding once and for all, that his retirement will remain final," CSA said in a statement.

de Villiers recently returned home to South Africa after the Indian Premier League (IPL) was suspended indefinitely earlier this month due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in India.

He had been playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL where he had been in impressive form before the suspension scoring 207 runs in six innings at an average of 51.75 and a strike rate of 164.28.

He is among South Africa's greatest-ever batters, their fourth-highest run-getter in Test cricket and their second-highest in ODIs and T20Is. He remains one of the world's finest T20 players, and was in red-hot form during IPL 2021