Former South African captain AB de Villiers struck a century for the Rangpur Riders in Monday’s Bangladesh Premier League fixture against the Dhaka Dynamites.

De Villiers amassed 100 not out, which spanned a mere 50 deliveries and featured eight fours and six sixes in a comfortable eight-wicket victory for the Riders at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.

His three-figure contribution was particularly key after opener Chris Gayle and South African Rilee Rossouw fell for one and a duck respectively. De Villiers hit seamer Andre Russell’s hat-trick ball for six – and ultimately shared an unbeaten 184-run partnership with England’s Alex Hales.

This century marked the fourth in his prolific domestic Twenty20 career, which also includes stints with the Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League – and Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League.

The hard-hitting right-hander represented the Tshwane Spartans in the inaugural Mzansi Super League in late 2018. He will also play for the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League later this year.

Earlier this month, the 34-year old expressed interest in playing in The Hundred – the England and Wales Cricket Board’s new limited-overs tournament.

While Indian captain Virat Kohli has publicly stated disinterest in the new format, De Villiers is eager to participate in next year’s trial.

‘I can’t see anything wrong with trying something different,’ he told the BBC.

‘I’m not set in my schedule at the moment, but I would love to play in the United Kingdom. I’m sure with the tradition and the culture of cricket over there, it would be very well supported. I would love to be a part of it.

‘There’s nothing wrong with experimenting with the format. It’s not a huge change, but it’s something different. It’s nice to experiment, and in a year or two we’ll see what happens.’

Photo: Gallo