AB de Villiers’ absence is clearly being felt by South Africa in the 2019 ICC World Cup and it has now been revealed that the star batsman offered to come out of international retirement for the tournament.

The right-hander announced a shock retirement from international cricket in May last year, citing a heavy workload as one of the reasons for his decision. According to a new report by ESPNcricinfo, De Villiers made a surprise last-minute offer to come out of retirement for the World Cup but the selectors and team management rejected the chance.

The report states that the batsman approached skipper Faf du Plessis, coach Ottis Gibson and convener of selectors Linda Zondi with his offer 24 hours before the 15-man South African squad for the World Cup was announced.

The 35-year-old’s offer was reportedly refused due to his failure to meet the minimum criteria required to qualify for World Cup selection. Having taken up retirement in 2018, the right-handed batsman had not played any ODIs for South Africa for the past year and neither had he participated in any domestic cricket competitions.

The team management also felt that it would be unfair to youngsters like Rassie van der Dussen if the veteran was given a last-minute recall for only the World Cup.

The revelation comes in the wake of a disastrous start to South Africa’s campaign in the 2019 World Cup which has led many fans on social media to demand for a shock AB de Villiers’ recall.

Following their six-wicket loss to India on Wednesday, South Africa have now lost all three matches so far in the tournament and face the prospect of having to winning all of their remaining six games to qualify for the semi-final.

AB de Villiers has a stellar ODI record for South Africa with 9,577 runs in 228 matches at an average of 53.50.