De Villiers remains confident despite batting woes
AB de Villiers hasn’t had the best time as a batsman in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, with scores of 4 and 0, but the South Africa captain insisted he was still in form and hitting the ball well.
Ahead of the must-win clash against India at The Oval on Sunday, de Villiers also came out strongly in response to questions on his captaincy, saying he felt had done a good enough job.
“Look, I'm still in good form. Still hitting the ball well, as always,” said de Villiers on Saturday. “It's just a matter of going out there and doing it. There's nothing I can say here that's going to change anything except that I still believe I can, and hopefully I'll prove that tomorrow.”
When asked if he felt his captaincy was on the line, though, de Villiers fairly bristled before retorting: “I think my captaincy is pretty good. I've thoroughly enjoyed every second out there. Lost the last game, so that's never ideal for a captain. I understand what I'm trying to do out there. I'm really enjoying the captaincy. I think I make some good calls.
“But yeah, the pencil's in your hand, and I unfortunately can't control what you're going to write,” he went on, addressing the questioner. “But in my mind I'm a good captain. So that's unfortunately going to come down to the result again tomorrow. Hopefully a good one.”
De Villiers said South Africa had prepared well for the Indian batsmen. “We have a bit of everything in our bowling attack. I don't think guys have been predictable with length,” he said. “There's generally been a good length form for many years that works top of off. Jacques Kallis always jokes about them, but it's true. If you find the right length where the ball is going to hit the top of off stump, it's generally a good ball, a good length.
“But the grounds change. It's different in Edgbaston. I've seen Cardiff, there’s different lengths working there, and same at The Oval. So it's important for us to make sure that by tomorrow as quickly as we can we find that perfect length to hit the top of off more often than not with the odd bounce in between here and there. We have set plans for all the Indian batters and we've analysed it really well through the last few days. We feel prepared to go out there and play well tomorrow, and I'm sure with the experience we have on the side, we'll find the right kind of length and information in order for us to be successful tomorrow.”
De Villiers said that South Africa was expecting to face R Ashwin, who tormented the Test team during the India tour of late 2015 but hasn’t had a game so far, with India preferring Ravindra Jadeja in a one-spinner attack. “I'll be expecting to see him in the team tomorrow, so we are preparing to see him on the side. If it doesn't happen, then so be it,” he said. “I can't say if we prefer to have to play against him or not. He's a great bowler. He's taken many wickets in the past and he's had success against us, as well, in India. But that's up for them to decide. If he's in the team, we'll try our best to play well against him.”