INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2018

I'm in the best form of my life - AB de Villiers

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

AB de Villiers has played a hand in each of two wins for South Africa in the series © AFP

AB de Villiers believes he is in the best form of his life as South Africa push for a three-nil Test series whitewash over India. The maverick 33-year-old batsman returned to Test colours after a lengthy sabbatical last month and has found no rust to his five-day game, with key contributions with the bat in both Cape Town and Centurion helping the hosts take an unassailable 2-0 series lead.

"I feel like I am in the best form of my life right now," de Villiers said. "Once again, I have touched on it earlier, that I am never guaranteed results, never guaranteed five hundreds in a row. I could get five ducks in a row but I am happy where I am at. And I am playing well and I am doing my preparation well and I am meeting the ball well, it is just upto the day to take care of itself. So I don't think like that and I feel at the best phase of my life right now."

De Villiers also confirmed that he was feeling as fit as he had ever been in the 13-year-career, despite the occupational hazard of an odd niggle or two. There were suggestions at the Champions Trophy in England last June that the star batsman could be suffering from a hamstring issue, but the rest from Tests appears to have rejuvenated him.

"It feels like my debut back in 2004 when I started as an opening batsman then a keeper at no.7 and back to opening, and up and down," he said. "It's funny with my comeback now similar to back in the day. But it has been very enjoyable, I feel very fresh, and I have said it on numerous occasions in the last few months that I just feel like just getting out there and playing, and that's what a good break does to you.

"I am feeling in a good space and the energy is good and my body is feeling right at the moment. I do have niggles but that is part of Test cricket. You never get up feeling a hundred percent. The back is still there, the ankles and knees, everything is hurting at times but to be playing the ultimate form of the game again, it has been a great challenge."

De Villiers began the series with a tone-defining 84-ball 65 on a spicy Day 1 track at Newlands after Bhuvneshwar Kumar's early strikes had left the hosts reeling at 12 for 3. He repeated his counter-attacking heroics in Centurion earlier this week, scoring 80 from a backs-to-the-wall situation in the second innings at 3 for 2. A key differentiator in both the knocks, matched perhaps only by Virat Kohli in Centurion, was de Villiers's ability to not let the bowlers sustain their stranglehold. He revealed, it was not an approach that he'd formulated.

"I have always said that I don't feel there's a big difference between the three formats. It is just a mindset - applying yourself to the wicket and conditions and that's always been the way that I have played. So no definitely not it is something that I force. I watch the ball and I just play."

Despite not being saddled with the burden of captaincy or having to double up as a 'keeper, de Villiers said he still finds himself at the centre of South Africa's leadership group, alongside captain Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla. Having been a captain himself, he said he understands the importance of a good sounding board and being a good influence on those coming through the grade to the top level. "I love having an impact on some of the youngsters in the team and to drive them and hopefully one day they will remember that old guy who had a good impact on me," de Villiers said.

"There is a great group of senior players at the moment. Guys who have the good hearts and the right intentions to take this team to higher levels and to newer grounds. Faf has been leading the side well, there is confidence as well, and it is easy to fit in as the senior player because I was captain not long ago and I know what the captain needs from his senior players. The kind of energy you need and the kind of advice you need at times and also sometimes also to get out of the captain's space. So I understand that's natural and understand all of us have been leaders in the past and I think we really work together well as a team."

South Africa have a week before the third and final Test against India at the Wanderers and given the history of the 2015 series in India [India won 3-0 on spin-conducive surfaces] there is a growing demand to achieve a 3-0 whitewash of the No.1 Test team, a fitting riposte to the travails of the past. While de Villiers relished the prospect of that emphatic scoreline, he expects the visitors to come out fighting.

"I cant remember what happened, what happened in 2015, oh we won the ODI series, yeah?," he joked. "[Three-nil] would be great, India have really impressed me and surprised us in terms of the bowling department so they have showed lot more skill and definitely there is lot more pace than we expected. So we know we are going to have to be watchful in that last Test.

"They will come out fighting and wanting to finish well in the Test series and wanting to take that confidence into the ODIs but obviously we would love to beat them 3-0. But you are never guaranteed of a result. We know we are going to have to dig deep again and make sure that like in the last two Tests we adapt to the conditions and put in our best type of cricket in the conditions."

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