Hashim Amla- A wristy wizard
On Saturday, Hashim Amla became the third South African batsman to score 9000 runs in Test matches. Hashim Amla enhanced his reputation as one of the finest batsmen South Africa has ever produced.
Hashim Amla scored a mere 19 runs against Sri Lanka in the second match at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Saturday, but that was enough for the right-hander to reach a memorable milestone. Amla took 204 innings to achieve the feat with an average of 47.45.
Fighting to keep the Proteas afloat after they slumped to 15-3, the veteran right-hander became just the third South African to reach the milestone after former teammates Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith.
Former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis was the first South African player to reach the landmark. By the time Kallis was done, he amassed 13,206 runs with a staggering average of 55.25. Former African captain Graeme Smith was the second to achieve the feat. Smith scored 9,253 runs before calling time on his Test career.
Since making his international debut against India in 2004, Amla has gone on to make hundreds against eight of the nine Test sides he's faced, with Zimbabwe the only nation he's failed to reach triple-figures against. While his career average sits at a healthy 47.45, his form this year has failed to live up to his lofty reputation.
For the past 9 months, Amla has been on a dry run, as he has averaged only 25.18 in the test series' played against India, Australia, and now Sri Lanka. The right-handed batsman from South Africa is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He also holds the record of highest individual test runs by any South African batsmen.
Moreover, Amla is one of the deadliest players in the history of Test cricket. Considering his incredible consistency, it is hard to see him stop in near future.
Hashim Amla is also one of the best white ballplayers at the moment. He has made 7,535 runs at an average over 50 in 164 games with 26 hundred, having eclipsed Virat Kohli's record as the fastest man to 7,000 ODI runs in June last year. Hashim Amla did it in 11 knocks fewer than Kohli.
In February 2017, Amla joined legends Kallis, Sangakkara, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli, Brian Lara, and Mahela Jayawardena in an elite group of players to have scored 50 international hundreds. He did it in quicker time than those illustrious names that achieved the feat before him, with his 348 innings well ahead of the great Sachin Tendulkar.