Some cricketers are beyond the horizon of words. They debut as any other player but retire as the GOAT. If you take a dip into the pool of cricket, you will find so many names. But today is a special day for one of them.
On February 17, 1984, Abraham Benjamin de Villiers was born in South Africa. This superhuman being not only showed his skills in cricket but he also captained the South Africa junior Rugby Team, got shortlisted for the Junior National Football squad and Junior National Hockey squad. He became National Badminton U-19 Champion and was a member of South Africa Junior Davis Cup Tennis Team. Nicknamed as “Mr 360”, ABD is cherished for his achievements in international cricket. He has always been considered as one of the finest cricketers the world has ever witnessed.
With his supreme skills he has been named as the ICC ODI Player of the Year thrice since his debut in 2004. Starting off his career as a wicketkeeper-batsman, “Mr 360” often featured in the matches solely as a batsman, a destructive one rather. De Villiers announced his retirement from international cricket in May, 2018.
As he turns 37 today let’s relive three of his best performances;
- 149 vs West Indies in Johannesburg, 2015 (ODIs)
WI skipper Jason Holder invited the hosts to pad up first. Capitalising on the opportunity, SA openers Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw gave a spectacular start. The opener duo racked up 247 runs on the board before Russour perished in the 39th over. Joining Amla after that, de Villiers was the wizard with the bat in that match. He scored 50 in 16 balls that counted three fours five sixes. However, the show was still on. After that ABD took just 15 more balls to bring up a ton and registered the record of fastest ton in ODI format. De Villiers finished off the innings at 149 runs. He took only 44 balls to reach 149 at a strike rate of 338.64. He posted 439 at the end of the 50th over. WI lost the match by 148 runs; ABD’s personal score was more than the defeat-margin. Just ABD things.
- 129* vs Gujarat Lions in Indian Premier League in Bangalore, 2016
The avid cricket fans have deep sympathy for those who missed this game. M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore has been his favourite cricket ground due to his stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore. The knock that he played against GL in 2016 is his best at the stadium. After Chris Gayle went back to the pavilion early, ABD came in at number three. He and his partner Virat Kohli knitted a 229-run stand. Both of them scored premier centuries that evening but de Villiers remained not out. He survived 52 balls to notch up 129 runs.
- 33 off 220 balls vs Australia in Adelaide, 2012 (Tests)
The grit of a batsman is tested in Test cricket. A top-tier batsman like him aces every format equally. Australia challenged SA with 430 runs on the scoreboard. SA were tottering at 77/4 on Day four. On the final day, de Villiers along with Faf du Plessis batted for nearly the entire day to draw the match. Du Plessis was unbeaten on 110 runs that came off 376 balls while ABD at the other end made sure they did not give a wicket to the Aussies. ABD’s innings is one of the slowest knocks in Test cricket in the past two decades.