New Delhi: South Africa’s quest for winning an ICC tournament came to an end after AB de Villiers’ men suffered an eight-wicket loss against India.
South Africa, who entered the coveted tournament as the World No. 1 side in the 50-over format, were touted as one of the favourites as their team comprised some of the best cricketers in world cricket.
But the Proteas yet again crumbled under pressure in a knock-out game and were overshadowed in all departments of the game by the Men in Blue.
Ab de Villiers, who remains to be the World No. 1 batsman in ODIs, was run-out after scoring 16 runs off 12 balls. The 33-year-old had a forgettable tournament where he scored just 20 runs from three matches.
When asked whether the fans will get to see him in 2019 World Cup, AB said, “Absolutely.”
The maverick right-hander was also asked to explain the reason why South Africa fail to hold on to their nerves in knockout matches of big tournaments.
“Tournaments are little bit different. You play different teams all the time on different venues. So, it’s a big challenge. No one said it was going to be easy. But we do come up short for some reason in tournaments like this. And it is pretty sad. I can’t explain to you what exactly happens,” he said.
De Villiers, who was run-out in the crucial match, blamed the poor batting performance for the loss.
“I think you saw it out there today, just a very poor batting performance. Nothing to do with the energy or intensity or belief in the team. We felt we had a great chance today, we came here to win the game of cricket and we just unravelled as a side out there,” he added.
Source: Zee News