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Hashim Amla may have been South Africa captain, but wasn’t a leader

Hashim Amla captained South Africa in 14 Tests, registering only four wins.

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Hashim Amla's (Above) resignation paves way for AB de Villiers to take over as skipper of South Africa's Test team © Getty Images
Hashim Amla’s (Above) resignation paves way for AB de Villiers to take over as skipper of South Africa’s Test team © Getty Images

Hashim Amla’s decision to step down as Test skipper in the middle of a series was a bit surprising, but one could sense that it was just around a corner. AB de Villiers has been appointed the new Test captain, which will add to his burden as he is already the One-Day International (ODI) skipper. But it was a responsibility he was willing to accept when Graeme Smith retired. De Villiers said that he was disappointed, but will back Amla, which is exactly what he did in the last couple of years. But was Amla the right choice by the selectors for Test captaincy? FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: South Africa vs England 2015-16, 2nd Test at Cape Town

One must firstly applaud Amla for taking up the role after the likes of Smith and Jacques Kallis quit at almost the same time. Amla’s unwillingness to lead is well known. He quit as ODI vice-captain few years back as he thought that it would cause distraction to his batting. But that did not stop him from accepting Test captaincy.

Amla, no doubt, is one of the best batsmen in world cricket. He can play long innings in Tests and accelerate when the team needs in the shorter formats. He is a complete team man, who will do what it takes to get the job done. But he had big shoes to fill as he had to take over from someone of the stature of Graeme Smith, who led South Africa in 108 Tests, winning 53 of them. Replicating his feat would be highly impossible.

Amla continued South Africa’s streak of being undefeated in away series when he won a series in Zimbabwe. There was a hard-fought home series win against Sri Lanka prior to the Zimbabwe series and another one against West Indies at home. Both Zimbabwe and West Indies never really posed a challenge to the South African team. Amla too scored heavily in those series and South Africa looked to be a dominant force. READ: Russell Domingo hits back at critics following Hashim Amla’s resignation as South Africa Test skipper

With rain playing spoilsport in the series in Bangladesh, Amla’s biggest challenge would come when he led his team to India. South Africa’s nine-year unbeaten away streak was on the line, and with India preparing rank turners almost everywhere, one wondered how this South African team could survive. Amla had a brilliant series when he toured India in 2011 and one thought he could carry his good form into this series as well. He also had de Villiers, who has a lot of experience playing in India. Barring those two it was a new-look South African team, compared to the one that toured India last time out. With injuries to Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, one sensed South Africa would have a mountain to climb, if they want to give India good competition.

The Indian spinners went on to do bulk of the damage as South Africa went on to lose the four-match series 0-3, without giving much of a fight. That is perhaps when Amla decided to step down. Tour to India can be grueling as many captains have learnt in the past, Amla’s was no different. He somehow managed to get it together and prepared himself to lead South Africa in the series against England. It seemed as though the South African team had still not recovered from their scars in India as their batting failed once again, barring Dean Elgar, who was gritty in India and played very well in the first Test. READ: Alastair Cook upset with Hashim Amla stepping down as South Africa Test skipper

Amla finally got back into form, scoring a double hundred at Cape Town. The rest of the team also played extremely well as South Africa went close to England’s first innings total of 629. Amla has always looked calm and collected on the field and during the press conferences. Looking at him, one gets the feeling that everything is fine with the South African team. You sometimes need someone like de Villiers, whose presence is always felt on the field and is also brutally honest about his players and performances with the media. Amla would have surely been relieved that there is a suitable successor and felt that the captaincy somehow adds extra pressure to his batting, which does not reflect on his average, which is close to 50 as skipper. But the time was perhaps right to move on.

De Villiers has had tremendous success as skipper of the South African team. He led them to the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final in 2015 and has a lot more to offer South African cricket. Being firm favourite to be appointed captain two years back, de Villiers finally gets what he wanted. Amla’s captaincy might be remembered for the wrong reasons, but he did take over the reins during a transition period and he could have done a lot worse than what he did achieve. Amla was indeed lucky to have been appointed captain of the South African team. READ: Hashim Amla thanks fans for support after resigning as South Africa Test captain

(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)

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