NEW DELHI: South Africa batsman AB de Villiers announced his retirement in 2021 but the 39-year-old recently expressed in an interview that if he were to make a comeback, he would strive to be the best and would relish the competition with Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli.During his illustrious 15-year international career, De Villiers earned the prestigious title of ICC ODI Player of the Year three times and was recognised as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the decade in 2019.De Villiers' impressive records include accumulating over 8,000 runs in Test matches, comprising 22 centuries and 46 fifties.

He also scored over 9,000 runs in One Day Internationals and more than 1,500 runs in the shortest format of the game, T20s.Among his many remarkable achievements, the 39-year-old holds the records for the fastest 50 (16 balls), 100 (31 balls), and 150 (64 balls) in One Day Internationals, making him the quickest batsman to achieve these milestones.

Additionally, he holds the record for the fastest hundred by a South African in Test matches and the fastest 50 by a South African in T20 Internationals.In a recent interview with Jio Cinema, AB de Villiers said, "Definitely.

I could still play.

But the drive is not there anymore.

It's always just about being the best.

I want to be the best if I come back and I'll want to compete with Surya and Kohli..."I definitely didn't play enough cricket towards the back end of my career.

I think that was the main thing.

With this Impact Player, I know a lot of people are celebrating, it's going to lengthen the careers of players.

To me, I could never do that.

I could never just play for two or three months of the year because I want to be the best in the world, and you can't do that if you play for three months of the year.

Absolutely no chance.

Yes.

You can practice for nine months.

But nothing, nothing compares middle practice with being out there and competition."So, the minute that fire went off being the best in the world, I felt like, what? What am I doing? So, what exactly is going on now? So was tough the last few years in that regard as well.

I felt like, you know what, I can still have my super knock here and there, but I don't want to do that.

I want to be the best," he added.