De Villiers resigns as SA Test captain; Du Plessis takes over

Johannesburg: AB de Villiers on Monday resigned as the South African Test skipper making way for Faf du Plessis to take over the job.

De Villiers, who took the responsibility of captainship after Hashim Amla's resignation midway during the England series in January 2016, has led the Proteas team in just two Tests.

An elbow injury kept AB de Villiers, who is fondly known as Mr 360°, away from the New Zealand and Australian tours and Faf du Plessis got the opportunity to lead South African team. He handled the job superbly and his team clinched impressive victories in both the series.

As the 'Superman of Cricket', De Villiers, is most likely to miss his third series in a row due to the injury, he thought it would be best to step down and give Du Plessis the opportunity to take over as the full-time skipper. Later, the appointment was confirmed by Cricket South Africa chief executive, Haroon Lorgat.

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De Villiers said, "The interests of the team must always outweigh the interests of any individual, including me. It was a fantastic honour for me to be asked to captain the Test side but I have missed two series and I am still in doubt for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka.

"Following the squad’s outstanding performances in Australia, it is clearly in the greater interests of the team that Faf du Plessis should be confirmed as the permanent Test captain."

De Villiers stayed away from South Africa's 1-0 win over New Zealand and was also not present when the Proteas team clinched 2-1 victory over Australia in Australia. He is very much unlikely to participate in the upcoming three-match series against Sri Lanka, which begins in Port Elizabeth on Boxing Day.

The South African team manager, however, hoped that De Villiers would return to the team before the start of the 50-over series between the two sides. He said that AB might take three to four more weeks to regain complete fitness.