AB de Villiers believes that he will maintain full fitness for the rest of the season, which clears him for the ICC Champions Trophy.  

Despite missing the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s clash against the Gujarat Lions on Tuesday due to a back strain, De Villiers has declared himself fit for the rest of the season.

This is great news for South Africa, who have a hectic schedule coming up, with a three-match ODI series against England and an ICC Champions Trophy to play. CSA took the necessary precautions with Quinton de Kock, ruling him unavailable for the Delhi Daredevils in their IPL 2017 campaign.

With the risk of losing the Proteas captain, who missed a large portion of the 2016 season due to a back injury, CSA have not chosen to withdraw De Villiers from the rest of the tournament.

De Villiers silenced doubts about his fitness on his official app, AB17:

‘I’m currently in Bangalore, I didn’t travel with the team to Rajkot and unfortunately I’ll be missing the game against the Gujarat Lions,’ De Villiers said on Tuesday.

‘I got a few more injections in my back yesterday [Monday] and it takes about 48 hours to settle.

‘I’m pretty sure it’s the last game I’m going to miss, and I will be 100% for the rest of the [IPL] tournament and also for the rest of the season.’

Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images