Cricket South Africa: It's time to enjoy Hashim Amla

The retirement of VVS Laxman has created an emptiness in the hearts of the cricket romantics. In this age of T20 cricket, it’s all about brute force – hitting the ball hard so that it clears the boundary in the twinkle of an eye. A cricket romantic doesn’t find any beauty from any of the strokes exhibited by the batsmen at present. The canvas of Test cricket is not glorified by the artistry of cricket’s sublime artists. There are no Yousufs, the Laxmans, the Azharuddins or the Zaheer Abbases.

But cricket’s habit of producing the beautiful artists with the willow has not stopped. Even in this age of brute force, cricket is gifting the romantic hearts, though not in plenty like the past, with the artists who use their bat like a painter’s brush to describe cricket in its most beautiful form – one can watch their batting whole day without any sort of boredom.

Hashim Amla, at present, is undoubtedly the best in the business when it comes to use the bat like a magic wand. In the modern day, he is carrying the legacy of the Laxmans and Azhars with immense pride and has become one of the beauty of the game of glorious uncertainty. Time passes by and Hashim Amla seems to get more beautiful with his wrists and timings.

Like all the artists of the game, Amla uses his wrists effectively and beautifully. The use of his wrists allows him to contact the ball late with no loss of power. The way he stands firm on the back-foot, with minimal footwork, and pierces the ball through the covers is a purist’s joy. Then those off-drives where the confirmation of the straight bat at impact is done by soft hands but either through the firm or velvety writs, simply punches a bowler’s Mojo terribly without the exhibition of any sort of arrogance. Then there is a mixture of audacity and dexterity in Amla with his artful weapon of demoralization – the occasional late cuts which at times kisses the boundary ropes leaving the spinners to stand clueless. In Amla there is a flavor of Azhar, there is a flavor of Yousuf and Zaheer, and there is a Taj Mahal in him.

During his debut, Amla was rusty. With a wide stance, bat swinging in the air and too much body movement while facing the bowlers’ deliveries made the critics wonder whether he will be able to stay longer in international cricket or not. But Amla worked on his game and developed himself without changing much in his style. The wide stance is still there, the bat still swings in the air but the body movements have minimized while facing a delivery and the wrists swing more swiftly than the past. His ability to play the ball late allows him to execute any strokes against the fast men or the spinners with an outstanding authority.

Hashim Amla is an asset to cricket. He offers a touch of beauty and artistry to cricket which is so rare nowadays. He is the perfect torch bearer to the legendary artistic batsmen of the game. The more he occupies the crease the more you get the feeling that he can’t make a mistake, he can’t offer any ugly strokes. The world of cricket has lost Laxman but Amla is carrying on the legacy of Laxman with his majestic wrist works. It’s time to enjoy Amla’s magic, it’s time to clap for each of his strokes.