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AB not happy with T20 record

Cape Town - When looking at AB de Villiers' international T20 record, it is startlingly clear that the numbers do not reflect the quality of the player.

He has represented his country 65 times and boasts an average of 23.49 - a number that is never going to be good enough for a player of De Villiers' stature. 

De Villiers' top score in T20Is is 79* and he has passed 50 just seven times - the last of which was Sunday's brutal knock of 71 off 29 at the top of the innings against England at the Wanderers. 

And that could very much be the reason for De Villiers' underachievement in T20Is - he has often come in too far down in the Proteas' batting line-up. 

That all seems to have changed as the Proteas prepare for next month's ICC World Twenty20 in India, and De Villiers' destruction of the England bowling line-up on Sunday makes it difficult to see him batting outside of the top two at that tournament. 

South Africa's superstar spoke after the match about his T20 record.

"I'm a little bit short in international T20 runs, my record doesn't look very good and I'm well aware of that," he said.

"I really want to improve on that and I think opening the batting has given me a great opportunity to do so over the next however long that's going to be ... hopefully for a long time.

"I want to improve that record and today is definitely a step in the right direction."

De Villiers hit six fours and six sixes in his knock on Sunday, but so high are the standards that he sets for himself that he still found fault with what on the surface seemed an innings of the highest order.

"I didn't start that well. I didn't feel comfortable at the wicket even though I got a few boundaries here and there," he said.

"I only really started feeling comfortable with Chris Jordan's over ... I started moving a bit better at the crease.

"I guess it was just one of those days where things did go my way ... a couple of balls bounced in the right areas and then obviously a couple of good shots in between so I'm pretty happy about that."

South Africa won the series 2-0 against England and will now start a three-match series against Australia at home that gets underway in Durban on March 4.

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