Johannesburg: Ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup final clash against India, legendary South African batter AB de Villiers said that he believes that the time to win a major world title has come for the Proteas.
The two undefeated sides in this edition, India and South Africa, will clash for the T20 World Cup title in Barbados on Saturday. While the Proteas recorded an authoritative nine-wicket win to end Afghanistan's dream campaign, India defeated England by 68 runs and took revenge for their defeat in the semis of the 2022 edition.
In a social media post on X, De Villiers said, "The moment of truth has arrived. South Africans have been waiting for 33 years to see the Proteas play in an ICC World Cup final. After so many heartbreaks, we know all about them. South Africa will play India in the T20 World Cup final in Barbados on Saturday and I am backing the Proteas to win. It will be close as we all know India are a team of superstars but I believe South Africa's time has come."
The legendary batter said that the Proteas are packed with power and though many people would say that they have not played their best cricket yet, winning eight games straight is not bad either.
"This Proteas team brings power. Power at the top order with (Quinton) De Kock, (Reeza) Hendricks, and (Aiden) Markram, power in the middle with (David) Miller, (Heinrich) Klaasen, and (Tristan) Stubbs, and power in the pace attack of (Marco) Jansen, (Kagiso) Rabada, and (Anrich) Nortje. Now add the skills of (Tabraiz) Shamsi and (Keshav) Maharaj, and you have all the bases covered. Some will say that they have not produced their best cricket in the tournament so far but they have won eight from eight and that is not bad," he added.
De Villiers played 30 T20 WC games for SA from 2007-2016, scoring 717 runs at an average of 29.87 and a strike rate of 143.04, with five fifties. His best score is 79*. Having scored 20,014 runs in 420 matches at an average of 48.11 with 47 centuries and 109 fifties, De Villiers could not win a major ICC trophy for Proteas both as a captain and player.
Squads:
India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal
South Africa Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram(c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Ottneil Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Bjorn Fortuin, Ryan Rickelton.
—ANI
