'Best suited' AB de Villiers to open for South Africa in World T20

Johannesburg, Feb 22: South Africa's captain Faf du Plessis last night (February 21) confirmed that AB de Villiers will open the batting in next month's ICC World Twenty20 tournament in India.

Match scorecard; World T20 schedule

The 32-year-old De Villiers blasted a 29-ball 71 as an opener for the Proteas on Sunday. The hosts defeated England by 9 wickets to seal the Twenty20 International series 2-0 at the Wanderers.

Chasing 172 for victory in the 2nd T20I, South Africa cruised home in the 15th over for the loss of De Villiers (71 off 29 balls, 6x4, 6x6).

After witnessing De Villiers' superlative match-winning knock, Du Plessis said he was "best suited" to open in Indian conditions, where he has excelled (in the middle order) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

"I feel that especially in India, someone like AB has the potential to blast a team away and get a hundred ... because he scores so quickly," Du Plessis said after the victory yesterday.

"You just have to go with what you think your strongest team is in the conditions. If we had a World Cup in South Africa or England, maybe it would be a different scenario.

"But especially in the conditions we're going to, I feel AB is best suited to bat as much as possible," he added.

In World T20, South Africa are grouped with defending champions Sri Lanka, West Indies, England and winner of group B (from 1st stage). The tournament is from March 8 to April 3.

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