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Cape Town - AB de Villiers, back with a bang in Wednesday's second ODI against Bangladesh in Paarl, is at peace with having relinquished the captaincy to life-long friend and team-mate Faf du Plessis.
De Villiers has captained the Proteas in 103 ODIs, 18 T20Is and two Test matches since 2012, but he has now given up the captaincy in all formats and handed that responsibility over to Du Plessis.
It is a decision that he says he is at peace with, and speaking after his man-of-the-match knock on Wednesday, De Villiers revealed his belief that in Du Plessis the Proteas had one of the greatest leaders in their history.
"The feeling is still very similar, even though I'm not captain," De Villiers explained.
"Faf and I have come a long way together. We speak the same kind of language, we know each other's game out there really well and I support him as captain like he did for me when I was captain.
"I've had a long run as captain and some fantastic 'ups' and quite a few 'lows' in between. I've captained for five or six years and I just felt that it was enough.
"I wanted to enjoy the last few years of my career.
"I'm 33-years-old and I know Faf is capable. He is going to be one of the best leaders we've ever had in this country ... he could be the best. We're going to give him all the support he can get."
De Villiers had initially expressed his desire to lead South Africa at the 2019 World Cup in England, but that honour will now almost certainly go to Du Plessis.
