Wednesday’s third T20 between South Africa and Sri Lanka at Newlands is the series decider and Cape Town’s first chance to see some of the most exciting young talent in the country in green and gold.

But it’s also more important than any of that - it’s AB de Villiers’ first game for South Africa since June.

“AB is one of the best T20 players in the world‚ one of the best batsmen in the world‚ not just T20; in tests and ODIs‚” Farhaan Behardien‚ South Africa’s captain for the series‚ said on Tuesday.

“He has been out for such a long time‚ and he came back in his warm-up game (a List A match for Northerns against Easterns in Benoni on Sunday) and got 134 not out.

“He is quite keen to be back‚ quite hungry for cricket after six months off.

“It’s unbelievable to have him back.”

De Villiers is all of the above and more‚ no less than unarguably the most innovative batsman of his generation and among South Africa’s alltime greats.

But much has changed in his absence.

He has resigned the test captaincy and made himself unavailable for the test series South Africa will play against New Zealand‚ England and Bangladesh between March and October.

And‚ despite players of the calibre of De Villiers‚ Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel having missed most of the 16 games South Africa have played across all formats since August‚ they have won 13 and lost only two.

De Villiers‚ then‚ will return to a team who don’t need him as much as they used to.

That said‚ they could have used him at the Wanderers on Sunday when Sri Lanka dismissed the home side for 113 and won by three wickets to level the T20 series.

Behardien confirmed De Villiers would play on Wednesday and that he could bat at No. 3.

“We want to give the best batsmen the most balls to face‚ and if they face anything between 30 and 50 balls they will be striking at close to 200 (runs per 100 balls faced)‚” Behardien said.

For that to happen the pitch will need to play ball.

The surface at the Wanderers‚ a slow turner that had more in common with subcontinental strips than the highveld’s usually willing pitches‚ did not.

But it seems Newlands will be true to itself

“It’s a bit greener than the Wanderers‚” Behardien said.

“It feels a bit tacky underfoot‚ which is a good thing.

“Once the sun gets on it‚ it’s going to bake it and hopefully offer some pace and bounce.”

Sunday’s result bucked the trend of Sri Lanka’s tour.

South Africa played emphatic cricket to win the test series 3-0‚ and followed that by claiming the honours in the first T20.

Even the Wanderers game held positives for the South Africans.

“We played well below par on Sunday against Sri Lanka and we nearly pulled off a win‚ so the guys showed tremendous fight in the second half‚” Behardien said.

“(Wednesday’s game) is essentially a final and there’s lots of pressure attached to finals.

“A lot of the guys have played finals domestically and I’m sure they will relish the opportunity.”

That goes for Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo as much as it does for De Villiers. - TMG Digital