Faf: AB will keep wicket until the WT20

South Africa's T20 captain Faf du Plessis has confirmed that AB de Villiers will keep wicket for the Proteas up to and including the World T20 in India next year.

The Proteas will play New Zealand in two T20 matches, starting in Durban on Friday, and even though Morne Van Wyk was called into the squad Du Plessis has confirmed that De Villiers will be behind the stumps.

De Villiers, who is the ODI skipper, has in the past not wanted to do the wicketkeeping duties because he has had issues with his back but Du Plessis said he can manage in the shortest version of the game.

Du Plessis said: "To be honest, keeping is something that he (De Villiers) doesn't really want to do. It does affect his back in the longer versions so the only format where we will see AB keep is T20 cricket.

"One-day cricket is just too much for him from a captaincy point of view and his body is important, we need AB to play for as long as possible. To get longevity out of AB is important…it will only be up to the World Cup, not after that.

"It's important that we stick to what we want to achieve. To put AB up at the top was a conscious change we made leading into the World Cup. The best time to bat is in the first couple of overs.

"You want to give your most explosive, best players a crack at getting in early and scoring runs."

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