Ab De Villiers is considered one of the most explosive batsmen in cricket and South Africa Twenty20 (T20) side skipper Faf Du Plessis is happy to make him play at the top of the order and keep the wickets as well.
South Africa will be playing a two-match T20 series against New Zealand starting from Friday. The first T20 of the series will be played at Kingsmead in Durban.
"Deciding to put AB at the top was a conscious change we made leading up to the World T20. The best time to bat is in those first couple of overs and you want to give your most explosive, best players a crack at getting in early and scoring runs.
"That's the benefit of being best friends with someone - you can tweak things a little more. To be honest, keeping wicket is something he does't really want to do; it's not on his priority list and it does affect him on his back," Du Plessis said in an interview to Espn Cricinfo.
Unleashing De Villiers at the top will make room for an extra batsmen or an all-rounder at the middle order for the Proteas. It will be their strategy in the series and also probably in the ICC World 2016 to be held in India.
"That's something we will stick with even though the conditions may say otherwise. In Durban, with a bit more grass, your cricket brain tells you you should keep AB back because the ball will move around a little bit and there is potential for him getting out early but it's not about this, its about the bigger picture. He needs to get used to batting in that new role. We've got Hash back to slot in at the top there and I think that's a good combination; they complement each other really well," Du Plessis said.
