Published: Feb 22, 2016, 06:13 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 22, 2016, 06:14 PM (IST)
AB de Villiers — is, without doubt, one of the most exceptional cricketers of this era. Be it One-Day Internationals (ODIs), Twenty20 (T20s) or Tests, de Villiers has established his name in every format. However, numbers show that de Villiers is yet to embark himself in the same way in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). Indian Premier League (IPL) has witnessed enough stupendous performances from de Villiers; that should serve as sufficient data to conclude that de Villiers can master the format. He recently smashed the fastest T20I fifty by a South African during the second T20I against England. He bettered his own record when he brought up his half-century in just 21 balls. Following that knock, de Villiers has insisted on being unsatisfied with his current T20 record. For a layman, it is perplexing when de Villiers suggested an improvement in batting in any format (is an improvement on de Villiers even possible?). FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: South Africa vs England 2015-16, 2nd T20I at Johannesburg
Perfection! That is the word that comes to mind when de Villiers is mentioned, at least in the shorter formats of the game. He is probably the most innovative batsman, with the weirdest assortment of shots. Some of his strokes are so bizarre that they leave people thinking, “How is this shot even possible?” While one thinks, de Villiers turns it into reality. Be it the reverse sweep, switch hit, reverse-switch hit, or plenty of shots that are yet to be named, he does it all. Moreover, he is probably the only batsman whose misbalanced strokes result into sixes. When de Villiers has bestowed a numerous unimaginable moments to cricket, a cricket fan has an image of de Villiers being a perfect cricketer he has watched. Indeed, de Villiers dominates ODIs and T20s.
In T20Is, de Villiers currently holds the 16th spot in terms of most runs scored (1,245). His best was an unbeaten 79, off a mere 29 balls. Even in terms of overall T20 record, he is nowhere close to the top in terms of most runs in T20 career. While Chris Gayle tops the list with 8,726 runs from 239 matches, de Villiers has placed 188 matches, with 4,346 runs in his account.
AB, who is the current holder of fastest ODI 50, 100 and 150, is nowhere in the race of the fastest T20 half-century. The fastest T20 fifty also belongs to Gayle, who brought that up in just 30 balls during a match for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013. De Villiers, on the other hand, has 24 ODI tons, just one less than the tally of Virat Kohli (25), the leader among the current crop. Interestingly, like de Villiers, Kohli is yet to make a T20I century as well.
South Africa are yet to put their hands on an ICC World Cup Trophy. However, they do have a player who adjusts to any role demanded by the team. An opening batsman, middle-order batsman, wicketkeeper-batsman (or even just as fielder), de Villiers has done it all. Not many were surprised when he chipped in to bowl a couple of times when the Proteas needed him to. READ: Happy Birthday AB de Villiers: Relive the top knocks from the South African legend
De Villiers has insisted that opening batting had provided him with a great chance to improve on his T20 record, adding that he had wanted to do the same for some time now. This is just another experiment the South Africans have been doing keeping the upcoming ICC World T20 in mind; once again, de Villiers was not thinking about his comfort zone, but is voluntarily being a part of it.
Though Brendon McCullum, Gayle and other big hitters of this generation are equally destructive, de Villiers has etched a different image altogether. While others are hard-hitters, de Villiers’ strengths lie in sheer timing. When the best comes out of him, he kills any chance of the ball being stopped. De Villiers’ attempt to improve his T20 record might just turn out to be a boon for South Africa ahead of ICC World T20 2016!
(Sakshi Gupta, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a sports fanatic whose mantra in life is “do only what you enjoy.” Her Twitter handle is @sakshi2929)
