AB de Villiers apologises for ‘horrible’ defeat against India in Champions trophy

CAPE TOWN: South African skipper AB de Villiers has apologized to the cricket fans his team’s poor performance at this year’s ICC Champions Trophy in a video message that went rounds on the social media.

The top ranked One Day International (ODI) team in the world failed to make it through to the semi-finals of the tournament after losing their ‘quarter-final’ to India on Sunday.

“We are truly and genuinely sorry about the way we performed in this year’s Champions Trophy and we will keep working hard at our game to make it right”, he said on his official social media account.

De Villiers’ men looked out of sorts as they collapsed in their turn at bat, only managing a paltry 191 all out in 44.3 overs.

India completed the run-chase with ease – winning by eight wickets – and knocking the South African team out of yet another ICC event before the final.

The Proteas had earlier suffered a further embarrassment in their second Group B fixture when they slumped to a 19-run defeat at the hands of Pakistan on the Duckworth-Lewis method.

“It’s been 48 hours since that horrible defeat against India and looking back we just had a horrible time with the bat,” De Villiers further said in his statement.  “We had two low scores against Pakistan and India, we never really gave our bowlers the opportunity to defend those totals, so it’s very disappointing.”

De Villiers is now tasked with leading the Proteas in their three-T20 series against England, the first of which will take place on Wednesday, June 21.

He will lead the side in the absence of regular captain Faf du Plessis who has been given a “break” for the series.