Steve Waugh disappointed with AB de Villiers' absence in Test cricket

Steve Waugh, the former Australian skipper, has joined the league of many cricket pundits to back AB de Villiers’ future in Test cricket. AB de Villiers has been one of the batting mainstays for South Africa in all the three formats of the game for a long time now. However, the recent times has seen the discussions revolving his future in Test cricket surface the news headlines.

De Villiers was out of the action for a brief while after the tri-series in West Indies last year. His absence saw a lot of new players being drafted into the side. Surprisingly for the Proteas cricket, the team flourished exceedingly well under the captaincy of Faf du Plessis when AB was away. Now that he is fit and raring to go again, he is finding it tough to get into the team.

The entire batting lineup looks settled and the only spot that seems to be vacant is occupied by young Temba Bavuma. However, given the introduction of racial quota in the South African team, there has been serious dark clouds over AB making a Test comeback.

More recently, even the batsman himself had mentioned that he would prefer playing the shorter formats more. Commenting on this fact, Steve Waugh mentioned that the absence of AB from Test cricket will hurt the game. He called AB as a great role model for youngsters and hence it will only be good for the game to see him play Test cricket.

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“It’s disappointing to hear that. AB de Villiers is a great player and a lot of kids look up to him. You want him playing Test cricket. If he doesn’t play Test cricket then other players will take that lead and then all of a sudden you get a diluted Test cricket championship which will be damaging to the game in the long run,” Steve Waugh quoted.

He, however, added that the decision remains a personal one and AB has every right to pick his preferences. Adding further to the note about the shorter formats, he called the T20 cricket as the money munching future of the game.

“I’d like to see him (De Villiers) have his priorities in Test cricket but, then again, he’s got a family to look after and I guess he’s at the back end of his career. Financially, every country probably does (need an international T20 league). It makes a lot of money. The crowds seem to enjoy it, the players love it and you get the best players coming to play in your country. The Big Bash has just really been incredible in Australia and it gets bigger every year,” Waugh conceded.