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Ten years’ back, when AB de Villiers made his first ODI appearance against England, nobody would have thought that the whole landscape was to change in a decade. If Smith, Gibbs and Pollock had been the flag-bearers of South African cricket in those years’, De Villiers emerged as the one who stood up for the cause and took the baton from the senior cricketers.
With a boisterous display of his batting exploits in the recently concluded ODI series between India and South Africa, AB de Villiers ended the ODI itinerary on a high with 358 runs under his name in 5 games at a whopping strike rate of 134. Though his devastating abilities were well-known to many in the past, this performance was special because he got success not only as a player but as a captain too, exemplifying the phrase- leaders’ lead by examples.
It was of course ABD the player who ensured success on most occasions and made things easy for ABD as a captain. If the crumbling soil in Nagpur was turning a lot, he became an invincible army and scored a blistering century to post a huge total. If his side was tottering in Chennai with all the partners in the hut, he came all guns blazing and began a catastrophe which continued until he was dismissed. If the top-order had exploited the conditions very well in Mumbai, he finished up the good work and scored a magnificent century by tormenting the bowlers with his hot blade, hotter than the Mumbai weather.
If this was not enough, batting maestro and little master Sachin Tendulkar piled up tons of praises for De Villiers when asked about his batting and current form. He said:
"I felt that South Africa batted really well. I wouldn't want to take away the credit away from Quinton de Kock, du Plessis and de Villiers. I thought de Villiers batted really well. “Maybe he is possibly at the peak of his career. He is really, really batting unbelievably well and it seems that he has got more time than anyone else."
If he is a bowler’s devil, he is a captain’s enigma too, which was quite visible in the series where MS Dhoni and his army of bowlers looked bamboozled against his batting tactics. He applied his past experiences garnered from IPL and clobbered heaps of boundaries coupled with wily singles and doubles. So, what makes him a destructive batsman? Why is he called a “Bowler’s Devil”?
Ability to build innings
If you look at his modus operandi behind those towering scores, it is conspicuous that he knows how to build an innings and switch gears whenever needed. For the first few balls, he builds a launch pad by taking singles using his feet, by sweeping the ball or by nudging it in the gaps, using the slog as an occasional weapon. There would be a silence in his batting style, but it will be the silence before a storm.
As soon as he gets accustomed to the wicket and conditions, he will switch on the sixth and seventh gears to take the innings to the dimensions of a skyscraper – which is what he did in Kanpur, Chennai and Mumbai.
It is his ability to read the situation and pace his innings accordingly which makes life difficult for bowlers as he is not the one to throw away his wicket easily. Once he gets settled in the crease, the scope of his scoring capabilities magnify and he takes the full advantage of that by taking the ball on a stadium ride. Sachin Tendulkar also applauded his innings building ability by saying:
"If you see the first 20 balls he faced and at one stage, I still remember I was watching a little bit and Shaun Pollock kept saying he has not shifted to sixth and seventh gear. It was rightly so, he has figured out how to pace his innings and he did it beautifully. I would give credit to the way he batted."
360 degree shots
If there is one way to survive in this ever-evolving game of cricket, it is only by devising new ways to counter the adroitness of the bowlers and transient rules. If Dhoni’s helicopter shot was germinated to nullify the effects of Yorkers, ABD has looked a step ahead of bowlers with his shots. He has a wide range of shots in his armoury, from bookish ones to the ones which are manufactured in his own factory. He can use his feet effectively, he can reverse sweep with utmost balance and can take a ball on a stadium ride by hitting it to any part of the ground.
If bowlers have struggled against him, it is because of his unpredictable shot selection, where he would shuffle across the stumps, would come inside the crease and “scoop” it on both sides of the wicket with an instant squat or would hammer it down the ground. This methodology is more mechanical and thoughtful because it gives him a lot of time to judge the length of the ball and those deadly Yorkers can easily be converted into half-volleys to sail them out of the park. And that is why to bowl to him is not a cakewalk because his movements are brisk, his instincts are sublime and his power is unmatched.
Consistency
If there are players around the globe who are comfortable playing in one territory but struggle to perform in another, if there are players’ who would score runs while batting first but would perish in pressure of chasing, ABD is not in those list of players. Looking at his career stats, he averages more than 50 and his strike rate is close to 100 on both occasions – be it batting first or chasing.
If this is not enough, he averages 50 while playing in his own territory and on neutral venue, while he averages more than 60 away from home with a strike rate of 100 in all three cases.
His career graph over the years is stupendous as he has never averaged below 50 since year 2009 and has been a consistent cause in South African victories. His forte can be said to be both against both spin and pace as the numbers validate the point. It is his consistency which has aggravated the bowlers’ plight because he is acclimatized to almost all the conditions, and the margin of error against him is very narrow.
Currently ranked no.1 in ODI rankings, let’s hope that ABD continues to entertain masses with his riveting stroke play and hard hitting abilities. For bowlers, mercy is the last option because he always proves himself to be a step ahead of them.
