Du Plessis keen for De Villiers to open

South Africa captain Faf Du Plessis wants to persist with AB De Villiers opening despite a second failure against Australia.

De Villiers has made scores of 0 and 13 in the Twenty20 international series, with his team suffering a thrilling five-wicket loss in Johannesburg on Sunday.

It has led to calls for the 32-year-old to drop down the order, but Du Plessis said the plan was to have De Villiers opening at the ICC World Twenty20.

“We decided on AB at the top a while ago and to change that would be obviously a sign of panic,” he told a news conference.

“If you get to a World Cup and you feel that form is different, then obviously you always look to change that.

“For me it’s about your best form players at a World Cup so it’s important to look at that.

“From a structure point of view, in an ideal world, I think our strongest team is with AB at the top in India but if all things lead against it, you have to consider it.”

Despite De Villiers’ failure, South Africa made 204-7 batting first, only for David Warner (77 off 40) and Glenn Maxwell (75 off 43) to lead Australia to an incredible win.

Mitchell Marsh hit the winning runs off the final ball of the match as the tourists squared the three-match series at 1-1.

Du Plessis rued simple mistakes and said they were costly for his team.

“I’m not overly disappointed in the game,” he said.

“For me, the disappointing thing is, obviously when the game is on the line, you want to make sure you get your basics right.

“To bowl two free hits in the last two and a half overs is a match swing of about 10-12 runs so for me it’s just about getting the basics right.”