AB de Villiers to Play in the PSL 2019

The Pakistan Super League will be soon in its fourth edition and it’s now established that they have signed up for the biggest T20 player in its history. Yes, you guessed it right – South African batsman AB de Villiers will be playing in the PSL 2019. Earlier,

AB de Villiers established his participation in the 2019 PSL through a video message he posted on his official Twitter account.

He said, he had been watching PSL on television and will now participate in his first ever season of the tournament coming February.

What had earlier sent the rumour mills in an overdrive was a tweet from the official PCB which says there is a big shock coming the way of the PSL fans with a number 17 mention. De Villiers used to wear the 17-number jersey while playing international cricket but has now retired from the game.

De Villiers is one of the most saleable cricketers around the world, and his stock have risen in recent time due to the fan following he enjoys in India and the Indian Premier League. Together with Virat Kohli, de Villiers represents the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL but is yet to feature in the Pakistan Super League. Now that he has retired from international cricket, there were talks that he force play in the PSL too and this latest news will be a big shot in the arms of the organisers.

Also in news is the Aussie pair of David Warner and Steven Smith, both of whom could feature in the Pakistan Super League. Warner and Smith were banned by the Cricket Australia for a year their function in a ball-tampering incident in South Africa and they will now trust to get back into full form and fitness by playing in cricket leagues around the world as well as the Caribbean Premier League and even PSL.

Recently, de Villiers had signed up with the UAE T20X League, a new T20 tournament that will be played in UAE. However, he wouldn’t be playing in that competition, but featuring as the brand ambassador alone, which raises question-marks over the participation of de Villiers in the PSL. Best would be to wait and watch if de Villiers is actually going to play in the PSL.

The presence of de Villiers will add a lot of polish to the tournament. While the PSL has had big tag players before this, they haven’t seen a player of this kind of following sign up with them. As it’s already known, no Indian player features in T20 tournaments outside the Indian Premier League either. De Villiers is so well-loved in India because of his IPL exploit there is a good chance that his presence will make the Indian fans watch the PSL with an even more keen curiosity.

As fans of PSL, what do you think of think of AB de Villiers’ signing to the Pakistan Super League?