Can't look past de Villiers as WT20 leading batsman - Swann

Former England spinner and 2010 ICC World Twenty20 winner Graeme Swann says that although England have plenty of batting talent, he is tipping AB de Villiers to top the 2016 run-scoring charts.

Assessing the markets for Unibet, he feels that a combination of de Villiers' skill and experience in India make him the obvious choice.

"People like (Alex) Hales, (Eoin) Morgan, (Jos) Buttler, (Jason) Roy, these could be worth a punt, but for me, the top batsman of the tournament - you can't look past AB de Villiers," Swann said.

"He loves playing in India, he loves T20 cricket, scores runs all round the ground."

De Villiers has played 67 Twenty20 Internationals, scoring 1,258 runs at a strike-rate of 128.89, also playing 104 matches in the Indian Premier League for Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore, scoring a couple of centuries during this time.

He is poised to make his first appearance of the tournament when the Proteas take on England in Group 1, but he already has work to do to catch up early run-scoring leaders Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Shehzad, Asghar Stanikzai and Chris Gayle.

However, Swann is confident that de Villiers has what it takes to win this particular battle, even though he remembers struggling in his own battles with the right-hander.

"It's so hard to bowl at him. I hated bowling at him. AB de Villiers is my man," Swann concluded.

© Cricket World 2016