AB de Villiers Opening the Batting in ODIs Might Be Worth a Try for South Africa

The context of the upcoming five-match ODI series between India and South Africa is non-existent. There is no looming one-day World Cup, both teams have already secured qualification for the Champions Trophy and rankings in limited-overs cricket mean little.

For South Africa, it does have the potential to serve a purpose, though. While the pain of flunking out of this year’s World Cup at the quarter-final stages should now be largely forgotten, they should be thinking about the future of this one-day team.

Central to that team, at least until the next World Cup, is AB de Villiers. South Africa’s one-day captain, the freakishly talented batsman, has showed what he can do when he opens the batting in Twenty20 cricket. Most recently, he scored a half-century against India in the first T20. The thinking behind De Villiers up the order in T20s is simple: The team’s best batsman should face the most balls.

Trying this strategy in one-day cricket is worth a shot, too, and can be possible with a few tweaks. In the early days of his one-day career, De Villiers batted an opener and had some success, including a century against the West Indies back in 2007.

But as his career has progressed, so has his responsibilities. As a captain and sometimes-wicketkeeper, De Villiers' one-day duties has meant that opening the batting would pile on the pressure.

However, where there is a will, there is a way.

Recently, Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock have opened the batting for South Africa. The pair have formed a formidable partnership, with Amla being calm and collected while De Kock takes the more aggressive approach.

De Kock’s recent loss of form brought something of a halt to that, but no sooner than you can say “wicket” did De Kock seemingly regain that form. After being dropped against Bangladesh, De Kock was sent away with the South African A team to play against the India A team in India. He responded with three centuries and should almost certainly return to international cricket against India in the first ODI over the weekend.

And that is exactly where the opportunity for De Villiers comes in. De Kock slotting back into the team can relieve some pressure from De Villiers, with De Kock taking over the gloves. Slotting the youngster in lower down the order will give him time to settle while De Villiers opens alongside Amla.

De Villiers will still have his captaincy duties, but there have been countless players who have done this double duty before. De Villiers also has the luxury of having many wise heads—including Amla—at his disposal to help him when it comes to marshalling the troops.

"

Make Ab de villiers open the innings & I bet he will make the First triple century in ODI cricket someday.

— Seerat (@Dream_Guy10) February 27, 2015"

Make no mistake, De Villiers can be destructive no matter where he bats, but opening presents him with the opportunity not only to face the most balls, but also to have just a little bit of extra time to get settled in. Considering the outcome of this series is largely meaningless, there is no better time than now to experiment with De Villiers opening the batting in ODIs.