“I love representing my country and nothing has changed”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

South Africa batsman AB de Villiers has made it clear that he has no intentions of retiring from international cricket, but confirmed that he wants to reduce his workload.

De Villiers’ comments come after Rapport, an Afrikaans newspaper, claimed that de Villiers would be calling it a day after the ongoing series against England.

But, the 31-year-old denied the report and said that he merely wants to scale back on the amount of cricket he plays in a calendar year in order to prolong his illustrious career.

“There are a lot of rumours flying around but for the last two or three years, the only talk I’ve been doing is (about) keeping myself fresh and having a bit of rest here and there,” De Villiers said. “The most important thing for me is to just enjoy my cricket. Moving forward, it’s important to look at my schedule. That’s the talk in the camp, maybe for me not to play all kinds of cricket.

“If I play all the IPL (Indian Premier League) games, I do get tired towards the end of the season and so that’s the only thing I’ve been talking about over last while – to keep myself fresh and to keep enjoying the game. I love representing my country and nothing has changed.”