AB De Villiers (360°)
(image source - The Guardian)Love by all, hate by none.
"AB De Villiers is the most valuable cricketer on the planet. His versatility is extraordinary and he is amazing to watch,"
- Adam Gilchrist
Wherever he goes he creates an impact, such valuable player AB de Villiers is. A man who can change the game single-handedly.
The young lad made his debut in 2004, England tour of South Africa. Though earlier few matches were not according to him but at the last match of the series, he showed the world his talent and his natural abilities, scoring 92 runs in 1st innings followed by 109 runs in 2nd innings.
And Yaa he began his career as an opening batsman.
Following the series, AB continued to mark his presence, Scoring 460 runs in 4 test matches at an average of 65.71 against West Indies, 2005.
Sometimes I feel or even everyone feels that he is not a human because of his unbelievable stuff while fielding.
One instance I remember of its initial stage of career only, where he ran out Simon Katich. Believe me, that was outstanding stuff, you will be amazed and your mouth will remain open by watching that.
Well, there are also many other unbelievable stuffs done by this man while fielding, watch them out too.
World cup 2007,
A world cup where ABD scored his maiden century against West indies (146 runs off 130 balls) but his form was inconsistent throughout the tournament.
"AB de Villiers is the definition of a Cricketing Genius"
- Michael Vaughan
2008, AB de Villiers as a test batsman was at the peak of performance. Scored 1061 runs in 22 innings at an average of 58.9.
(3 matches 5 innings 243 runs at an average of 60.75. SA Vs Australia in Australia 2008)
(3 matches 5 innings 357 runs at an average of 89.25. SA Vs Australia in SA 2008)
(217 not out of 333 balls Vs India 2008)
(4 matches 6 innings 384 runs at an average of 64. SA Vs England 2008.)
..many more
Ah! That inning of 217 runs was such a delight to watch. The inning [Orthodox shots with some tricky stuff (for which AB de Villiers is known for ) and a monstrous six out of park ] was a complete package to watch out for.
After that AB de Villiers continued to climb up the ladders and everybody bowed down to his talent.
" There are only two games I dread, it's the two IPL Games I play against this guy.
– Dale Steyn
#360°
AB de Villiers truly defines this tag. Bowlers have different strategies and for every strategy, he has a wide range of shots. While playing cricket I and hope so many of you all have tried to copy his shots.
(6 matches 186 runs at an average of 37.20, T20 world cup 2009, second-highest run-scorer for South Africa)
(278* runs off 418 balls against Pakistan in 2nd test 2010, his best score in test )
(283 runs in 5 matches at an average of 70.75 against West indies 2010)
(153 runs in 5 matches at an average of 38.25, T20 World cup 2010)
Well, these are just few innings and few series, this man has done wonders in almost all the innings he has played.
ICC World Cup 2011
5 matches 353 runs at an average of 88.25, leading run-scorer for South Africa at that world cup. Ah! What a world cup was that for AB de Villiers. ABD at his best
2 centuries and 1 half-century, lead South Africa from the front.
"AB De Villiers is changing the rules of the game"
- Rahul Dravid
In 2012 AB de Villiers was given the responsibility of being the captain of team South Africa in ODI's. As it is said AB can do anything, during his captaincy tenure South Africa Team achieved new heights.
Despite achieving new heights, having a strong captain and a strong team South Africa wasn't able to win any world cup. So they got a tag of chokers.
ABD tried hard to remove that tag and lead South Africa hands to that world cup.
2015 World cup
An instance where South Africa reached the semi-final of the world cup but wasn't fortunate enough to enter into the finals. As they were beaten up by New Zealand by 4 wickets.
After that match, I remembered many players of South Africa were crying and they were even not ready to leave that ground. My eyes were also full of tears, such an impact that match had on me.
First batsman to hit 50 sixes in ODI cricket and 60 sixes in a calendar year in all formats.
Only Batsman to score 5000 runs at an average of 50 and at a strike-rate of 100.
Second Most Runs for South Africa in International Cricket.
Second Highest ODI Batting Average for Captains.
AB de Villiers bagged his first duck in Test cricket against Bangladesh, 2008 after playing 78 innings - the most innings played before first ever duck in Test cricket.
AB de Villiers is one of twelve batsmen to score 20,000 or more runs in international cricket.
AB de Villiers won the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year (2010, 2014 and 2015) award three times in his career.
Second highest individual score in test with 278* runs against Pakistan.
Scored the fastest T20 half-century for his team, against England, off 21 deliveries
…..many more
#Teamfirst
ABD is a complete team man, always ready to do what best suits the team. If the team needs him to play aggressively he plays aggressive and if the team needs him to play defensive he will play defensive.
Two instances I remembered where he played differently from his nature. I felt that he is fully on his defensive mode and he has kept aggression mode at home.
(South Africa tour of Australia 2012,
2nd test, Scored 33 runs off 220 balls at the strike rate of 15.00)
(South Africa tour of India 2015,
4th test, Scored 43 runs off 297 balls at the strike rate of 14.47)
Now it's time for some aggressive innings played by him,
(162 runs in 66 balls at the strike rate of 245.45 against West Indies )
(176 in 104 balls at the strike rate of 169.23 against Bangladesh )
(149 in 44 balls at the strike rate of 338.63 against West Indies )
Fastest 50, 100, and 150 in ODI's are all under his Name.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Fasten your seatbelts we're ready for the Take-Off."
- Harsha Bhogle
162 runs off 66 balls is my favorite one, I totally got surprised by his batting. I believed he came at the increase at 30th over something and then a storm came ( I name it as an AB storm). Shots all around the park. In this match only he became the fastest batsman to reach 150. When did he start, when did he reach his 150 I still think about it...
For RCB
105* runs off 54 balls Vs CSK, 2009
133* runs off 59 balls Vs MI, 2015
129* runs off 52 balls Vs GL, 2016
90* runs off 39 balls Vs DD, 2018
South Africa tour of India 2015, this series proves my above quote (Love by all, hate by none) true.
(5 matches 358 runs at an average of 89.50)
"I walked out there to bat and the entire crowd was cheering 'AB! AB!' and chanting so loud that I could not even hear myself talk.
"It was happening in the whole series, but then it hit me really hard that I was very far away from home and here the people were supporting me like I was their own, yet I was playing against their own,"
- AB de Villiers
Then on 23rd May 2018, a video came out on twitter which led to a "shocking reaction" on my face and "I can't believe it" on my mind. The video was the retirement announcement by AB de Villiers from international cricket.
I was like this is too early to retire, I want to see you (ABD) play more for South Africa.
After retirement, he continued to take part in different leagues and while watching his batting, fielding… People (even me) started demanding, bring AB de Villiers out of retirement.
I hope he comes out of retirement and plays for South Africa for 2 or 3 years more and South Africa get their hands on the world cup.
Well, I end this up with a quote by AB De Villiers,
"The interests of the team must always outweigh the interests of any individual, including me,"
- AB De Villiers
I hope you enjoyed reading this,
Do provide your feedback,
Thank you.
Written by - Ankit Thakkar
Yess amazing
ReplyDelete✌✌
Delete💯💯🙌
ReplyDeleteThank you ✌❤
DeleteBeautifully written 🙏
ReplyDelete