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Cape Town - AB de Villiers says that keeping wicket at this stage of his career is not ideal, but he will chat to coach Ottis Gibson about doing it in the future if needed.
The 33-year-old, playing his first Test match since January 2016, was forced to keep in this week's Boxing Day Test against Zimbabwe after Quinton de Kock picked up a hamstring strain.
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South Africa crushed Zimbabwe by an innings and 120 runs on Thursday in a frustratingly one-sided contest as De Villiers took eight catches in the match.
Those dismissals took him to 201 catches in Test cricket and he looked comfortable behind the stumps throughout, but 'keeping is not something De Villiers sees himself doing as long as he can help it.
De Kock is expected to have recovered from his hamstring strain in time for the January 5 Test against India in Cape Town, but if he is not ready then Proteas management could look at De Villiers once more.
"I'll chat to the coach," said De Villiers after the Zimbabwe win.
"Ideally I would not like to 'keep and just focus on my batting and make sure I play for South Africa for as long as possible."
"'Keeping tends to get to me after a while in long, tough series where I need to be focusing on my getting. It gets in the way."
De Villiers desperately wants to play in the 2019 World Cup and has spoken in the past about how not 'keeping will prolong his career.
