AB de Villiers happy to be home after disappointing IPL

South African ODI skipper AB de Villiers has headed back to South Africa to join the national side. The South African team is scheduled to tour England for a short 3-match ODI series commencing on May 24. Prior to the ODI series, the team will play 2 warm-up matches on May 19 and May 21. The series in England is expected to serve as the preparation camp for both England and South Africa heading into the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

The Champions Trophy kicks off on June 1 with hosts England taking on the Bangladesh team in the tournament opener. Keeping the ICC mega event in mind, the South African cricketers have headed back home midway through the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League. AB de Villiers had a dismal run in the IPL this year. He failed to live up to his reputation and largely underperformed.

His team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, finished at the bottom of the points table and was thoroughly beaten and humiliated in the tournament. Barring one odd innings in the season when AB de Villiers struck a brilliant 80-odd in a losing cause, he failed to come to the rescue of the sinking ship of the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Now, AB has returned back to South Africa to spend some quality time with his family before joining the national side for the England tour. He took to the micro-blogging site Twitter to express his happiness over getting some quality time with the family. He noted that the IPL had been disappointing this year and now he is looking forward to the next assignment – the Champions Trophy.

In his tweet, the South African ODI skipper wrote, “A disappointing #IPL2017. Some tough lessons learnt that we take in to next year! Happy to be home with the family before the #CT17 in June.”

A disappointing #IPL2017. Some tough lessons learnt that we take in to next year! Happy to be home with the family before the #CT17 in June.

— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) May 8, 2017