The Hindu
PHENOM: A.B. de Villiers, set to play his 100th Test on Saturday, has endeared himsefl to cricket connoiuseurs thanks to with his supreme talent and genial personality. Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash
It is fitting that A.B. de Villiers’s 100th Test will be unveiled on Indian soil and that too at his IPL home ground — Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Call it destiny or coincidence, India has often witnessed de Villiers’s flamboyant touch — on the ground (ask Dale Steyn, who was caned twice in the IPL) or off the field (proposing to his girlfriend Danielle Swart near the Taj Mahal in 2012).
Deservingly, de Villiers’s milestone has drawn attention to his phenomenal talent and longevity. That wasn’t the case with many of his contemporaries or predecessors. Most South African players since the country’s readmission into cricket in 1991, had to cope with two cumbersome weights — nostalgia and stereotype.
With the Apartheid years having largely prevented legends ranging from Barry Richards to Clive Rice, from completely exhibiting their wares in the international arena, talk about South African cricket, at least beyond the Rainbow Nation, was always about the ‘what-would-have-been’ rather than about the achievements of a Jacques Kallis or an Allan Donald, to name a few.
That Kallis was beginning to be whispered in the same breath as Sir Garry Sobers or was considered as a threat to Sachin Tendulkar’s run tally in Tests happened a wee-bit late and by then the South African great was inching towards retirement.
The other yoke that held down the South Africans was the word ‘choke’ thanks to last-minute exits from World Cups. Between the weight of history and a sweeping judgemental reference — chokers — de Villiers has been a breath of fresh air.
Bradmanesque
He has been nothing short of Bradmanesque, especially in the last eight years during which he averaged 61.67 in Tests. de Villiers the plunderer in coloured clothing, may be the alluring image emanating from limited overs’ contests but he has proved that he is the durable deal in Tests too (7685 runs averaging 51.92).
Flair and cheekiness isn’t something you generally associate with South African batsmen, but de Villiers has corrected that perception. Add solidity to it and you get the complete package.
The cricketing genius in him has been well chronicled but it is also a fact that de Villiers is an extremely nice individual.
He hasn’t allowed his supreme skills — batting, fielding or wicket-keeping — inflate his ego. The man has retained his sense of wonder and is the quintessential team-player.
When Quinton de Kock had a golden run — three hundreds on the trot — against India in an ODI series back home in 2013 December, de Villiers was elder-statesman, doting senior and a leg-pulling peer, all rolled into one, to the rookie in his post-match press-conferences.
He genuinely cared and guided de Kock past verbal minefields.
The No.1 Test batsman is keen that South Africa effects a turnaround in the current series. Bengalureans will wish him success and at the same time hope that his team is tamed.
An intriguing 100th Test beckons.
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