‘Important to try and give AB a go at the top’

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Cricket365
February 14, 2016

South Africa's T20I captain Faf du Plessis says AB de Villiers is likely to open the batting at the World T20, which starts in India in March.

The Proteas unveiled their 15-man squad on Wednesday with De Villiers included alongside a resurgent Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla and have to make tough call on who to leave out of the starting line up.

De Villiers batted at the top of the order in the last T20I series against India, in October last year, with relative success but that was when De Kock was dropped due to a loss of form.

The 23 year-old De Kock however is in the form of his life, having just hit two centuries in the first three games of the current five-match ODI series against England.

Coach Russell Domingo said: "AB will bat in the top three. He has been used as an opener, he will probably be used as an opener when we get to the event."

Du Plessis said: "We know we have two great openers in Hashim and Quinny but also, it's really important to try and give AB a go at the top.

"He is one of those players that can on the day score a hundred and really take the game away from the opposition. My personal thinking is to let AB do that. He is one of the few players in the world that can do it.

"For me its really important that those first six overs in India to try and be as positive as possible. The decision becomes who is going to open with AB between Quinny and Hashim."