Ottis Gibson cleared up the AB de Villiers saga during the Proteas’ press conference ahead of their match against the West Indies.

De Villiers dominated headlines on Thursday.

Reports worldwide ran with the story that De Villiers asked to be a part of the World Cup squad just before the World Cup team announcement on 18 April. A story on espncricinfo kicked it all off.

READ: AB’s World Cup plea ‘not even considered’

As expected, De Villiers was a hot topic during Gibson’s press conference on Saturday.

’It seems like there are lot more people wanting AB [De Villiers] to be here than AB himself. If he wanted to be here, he would be here.

’Since AB has retired, we’ve won every ODI series we’ve played and I haven’t had many AB questions.

’Suddenly we’ve come to the World Cup and we’ve had one bad week and we have AB questions. We have to live with the decision he has made, and he has to live with the decision.’

The Proteas coach also confirmed that De Villiers told Faf du Plessis at the IPL he wanted to play in the World Cup, and then called Gibson on the evening of the squad announcement.

‘AB called me the morning the squad was going to be announced or the night before. To come back the day before and say he wants to play, is strange. He made his decision.’

Gibson asked his players to use this noise as fuel to prove to the world that irrespective of AB’s absence they deserve their spot in the side and can win games of cricket.

‘I would want them to flip it the other way and show everyone that they deserve to be here.

‘It’s only us that can change it [perceptions]… We can talk about AB all we want, but he’s not here and he cannot help us. Only we can help us.

‘We have to keep believing in ourselves and in the people who are here to do well in the tournament.’

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