AB De villiers pulls out from NZ series, Hints retirement from Test format.

De Villiers said he wanted to focus on the 2019 World Cup ahead of everything else at present. (AFP)

He had earlier told South African radio station 702 that he was not retiring out of Test cricket. (AP)

I am going to have to make certain choices. It's not easy for me. I have always been the go-ahead guy, the team man, never want to miss a game for South Africa and I still do, but the schedules these days, it's really tough to play all formats. (AFP)

Fuelling talk that he might call it a day in Test cricket, South African star batsman AB de Villiers pulled out of the upcoming series in New Zealand in March. (AFP)

De Villiers said, The reason being that I just need to settle things in my head. Over the last few years something has come to mind, which is the fact that we haven't won a World Cup yet. And for me to make it to the 2019 World Cup, I can't really be serious in every format. (BCCI)

So I've made myself unavailable for the New Zealand Test series. I will be there for the ODIs, and I'm definitely not retiring from Test cricket because I have plans to come back at some stage. (AFP)