Injuries caught me like a thief in the night: AB de Villiers

South African skipper, AB de Villiers, who has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against New Zealand due to an elbow injury has revealed that “injuries caught me like a thief in the night”, as he admitted that the amount of cricket played nowadays is one of the key reason for it.

Apart from the national commitments, he has been a part of different leagues all around the world including the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Carribean Premier League (CPL). However, this will be the first time, he will be missing a series due to injury, ever since he made his debut in 2004.

“I have five to six niggles at the moment, including the shoulder that everybody knows about which started about eight months ago. I have been hanging in there. I did fool myself a bit in thinking that I could just keep going and keep going and it has sort of caught up with me a bit,” AB de Villiers said in Durban on Monday. “It’s a big shame that I am losing out a few Test matches. It caught me like a thief in the night. This was not part of the plan.”

He is hopeful of making his comeback after the New Zealand series, which comprises of two Test matches. “I love playing for my country and I would love to play as long as I can. You’ve got to look after your body sometimes and that’s happening with the six weeks now.”

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“Hopefully, after this New Zealand series, I will be ready to go and will tackle the Aussies in October. There’s a game against Ireland in seven weeks’ time. That’s a good time to test where I am physically,” he explained.

De Villiers urged the team to play a positive brand of cricket in series against New Zealand as the South African side is going through a transition period and as they are heading towards a busy schedule where they take on New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, Sri Lanka and England.

“The one thing we did discuss is to throw the first punch. We have always been proud of how we can come back from any position but I feel it’s time to take a step towards positivity and not be scared to throw the first punch and dominate games of cricket. We’ve been playing cricket, white ball for some, red ball for others. The boys will be nice and positive,” he opined.