5 great bowlers AB de Villiers has been brilliant against
Sport is at its spectacular best when the greatest athletes come up against each other. Such battles are something that get the adrenaline pumping and make you wish for more. Most times such contests are closely fought, but sometimes one side of the coin trumps the other quite easily.
AB de Villiers is definitely the side of the coin that likes to dominate the best bowlers in the world and he has done so on numerous occasions in the past. Several world-class bowlers have had to face the wrath of the South African batsman.
Here are 5 such world-class bowlers, who have been taken apart by de Villiers:
5. Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff might have been renowned as an all-rounder during his playing days, but make no mistake, he was also one of the best swing bowlers in the world at the time. An average of 24.38 with the ball in ODIs is better than most world-class bowlers to have played the one-day game and that only goes on to show how good Flintoff was at his craft.
In 2009, Flintoff was bought for a then record fee of $1.55m by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and a lot was expected from the big Englishman. Instead, he turned to become one of the biggest flops in IPL history and ended up playing just 3 matches for the MS Dhoni-led side.
The last of those matches was against the Delhi Daredevils, who back then had a certain AB de Villiers in their ranks. The South African slammed his first T20 century in that match and took a special liking to Flintoff during the innings.
De Villiers faced 12 deliveries from the Preston-born cricketer and hit 34 runs at a strike-rate of 283.33. Most of the hitting came in the 19th over, when he took Flintoff for 21 runs from 5 balls, which included two sixes and two fours.
Watch highlights of de Villiers’ innings below:
4. Mitchell Starc
This is the only one of the five that came in the longest format of the game. You’d probably be expecting a name like Mitchell Starc to rank higher here, but this attack wasn’t as devastating as the other ones mentioned on the list.
AB de Villiers came into this match in late 2012 on the back of a 240-ball 33, which helped South Africa save a Test at Adelaide. His mindset, at Perth, though, was completely different. He was on the attack and scored 169 from just 184 balls, at a strike rate of 91.84, which is out of the world by Test cricket standards.
Although Starc wasn’t as lethal back then, he was still making a name for himself and in this very innings, picked up 6 wickets. But de Villiers took him for 7 fours, hitting 38 runs from 45 deliveries at a rate of 84.44 runs per 100 balls, which is again brilliant by Test standards.
Starc dismissed de Villiers, but the Pretoria-born batsman had done enough for the Proteas to register a famous Test series win Down Under.
Watch highlights of that innings below: