"It was really exciting. I've never batted with him before," a dead chuffed Phehlukwayo said of batting with de Villiers.
"I was trying to keep myself really calm. Everyone knows his abilities but I've learned a lot from him in terms of game plans and how I need to train."
His medium pace bowling is serviceable but it's clear there is talent in the young man whose first sporting passion was hockey. He came to cricket relatively late but is making up for lost time.
De Villiers praised the young man's ability to judge the pace of the Seddon Park pitch on a difficult night for batting. As you might expect, Phehlukwayo shrugged that assessment aside.
"From the side it may have looked like that, but I was just trying to watch the ball and pick what they were trying to do, swing really hard and hit straight."
The last-over six was a killer for New Zealand. They had likely figured if they could keep de Villiers off strike they'd have a good chance of winning.
"I was just really happy that I was able to execute well in a pressured situation and I would like to do that consistently."
There was a time when fielding teams could be confident if the batting side had, say, 26 to win off the last three overs. These days, with the advances in T20 batting skills, good batting groups will knock that off with an over to spare.
"It was very impressive the way Andile played," de Villiers said. "He was hitting it pretty sweet. There's a lot of talent in that young man and I'm looking forward to see him grow into a really good cricketer."
There's work to be done. His bowling is serviceable but he needs to lift his pace. But South Africa rightly figure they may have uncovered another diamond for years to come.
