Proteas batsman Rassie van der Dussen says it would have set a ‘difficult precedent’ if AB de Villiers’ last-minute request for World Cup inclusion had been accepted.

News broke last week that De Villiers had made a last-ditch attempt to join the 15-man World Cup squad, a request unanimously turned down by captain Faf du Plessis, coach Ottis Gibson and Cricket South Africa.

The fallout from that request has died down to some degree, but certainly hasn’t disappeared as the Proteas prepare for Saturday’s crucial clash against Afghanistan in Cardiff.

Questions around the De Villiers saga were directed at Van der Dussen on Thursday, but he offered a straight bat in return.

‘It’s not necessarily your best question to ask me, because I am involved in it, and had he not retired it would have influenced me directly. You can’t, on the day before when the squad has been working for longer than a year, come and say you want to make a comeback now.

‘I’m not saying that he was wrong or right… but it would have set a difficult precedent, not necessarily a wrong one, because he is still one of the best batsmen in the world.

‘I just think it was maybe handled not in the correct way from his side. I believe that Ottis and Faf gave him opportunities to manage his workloads going into the World Cup because they wanted him to play the World Cup.

‘He had a fair chance to manage that, and he said ‘no’ and that he was happy to retire, and that’s fair enough. Faf accepted it and Ottis accepted it and they stood by it.’

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