India, Jan. 12 -- AB de Villiers is hooked to the television monitors even as he is interviewed by a select few reporters present at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg as the MI Cape Town are down to the last two overs of their innings against Joburg Super Kings in an SA20 match. In fact, for a moment, de Villiers lost track of the question he was that immersed in George Linde and Delano Potgieter. The two had come together at the fall of Hazmatullah Shahidi's wicket, leaving the score reading 75/6. With six and a half overs left, the manner in which Potgieter and Linde batted made de Villiers grin ear to ear.

His belief and confidence in the up-and-coming generation of the South African cricketers is such. Two evenings ago, Potgieter...