An emotional AB de Villiers issues apology to fans

The ICC Champions Trophy 2017 was perhaps AB de Villiers and South Africa’s best chance to break their silverware drought. The perennial chokers, as they have come to be known as, entered the tournament as the No.1 ODI side as per the rankings for the format, and was expected to deliver good results. However, they lost to India in the virtual quarter-final at The Oval.

The loss was a humiliating one, and at one point, it looked like a suicide as wickets kept falling one after the other, with most of the Proteas batsmen failing to make it to the crease. India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 4 wickets amongst them to take India another step closer to defending their title from 2013.

South Africa last won an ICC tournament in 1998, which was the inaugural edition of the Champions Trophy, known as the KnockOut tournament back then. They won it under the leadership of Hansie Cronje. But after that, they have not been able to win any ICC tournament, choking on almost all big occasions when it matters the most.

“It’s been 48 hours since that horrible defeat against India and looking back we just had a horrible time with the bat,” said de Villiers in a video message on Facebook. “We are truly and genuinely sorry about the way we performed in this year’s Champions Trophy and we will keep working hard at our game to make it right,” he said.

AB de Villiers is an emotional individual. After the 2015 World Cup exit, he was seen hugging a fan at the airport back home as a mark of apology for returning without the trophy. After RCB’s dismal performance in the IPL this year, the stalwart had issued an apology to fans over a video message. ABD may have to wait another 2 years to life an ICC trophy – the World Cup 2019.

Here is the video