AB de Villiers creates another record, and this one may be the toughest to beat of all
Unless he meets with a freakish accident in the pre-match practice session, AB de Villiers will create a new record by playing his 97th consecutive Test match since his debut against England a little over 10 years ago. He snatches the record from Australian legend Adam Gilchrist, who played 96 matches from debut to retirement on the trot, keeping the talented Brad Haddin waiting for a Test debut.
De Villiers, unarguably one of the top batsmen in world cricket at present, did not have a smooth start to his Test career. In his first four years, he was shuffled around in the batting line-up. He even played as a specialist wicket-keeper batting at number 7 in a couple of matches. His returns were underwhelming but good enough to keep him in the team.
He finally got a permanent middle order slot in early 2008, and the results improved immediately. The batsman, who averaged 36 in 33 matches with only three hundreds till then, piled up more than a thousand runs with four hundreds at an outstanding average of 59 in 2008. That included a brilliant unbeaten 217 on a difficult batting wicket against India in Ahmedabad.
The man has never looked back since then. He averaged more than 50 in each of the next seven years except 2011, when South Africa played only five Test matches.
But to reach a record like this, a player needs more than just consistent performances. The hottest topic of discussion in every tennis blog on the internet is “Who is the GOAT, Federer or Nadal?” While the jury is still (and probably will always be) out on that topic, there is no doubt that Federer is the most consistent Grand Slam performer. Even Nadal admitted that the toughest Federer record to break will be his 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-final appearances.
Fitness has often been the key to a successful career for every great athlete.
De Villiers hasn’t been injury-free. In fact, he missed two matches in the 2011 World Cup and the entire ODI series against Australia later that year, which was supposed to be his debut series as the captain of South Africa, due to injury.
He has regularly suffered from back problems that have forced him to give up wicket-keeping in all formats of the game. However, it is worth admiring that despite his demanding dual role of wicket-keeper and top order batsman, he hasn’t missed a single Test match.
In fact, his numbers are better as a keeper-batsman.
In the taxing modern-day cricket calendar, where a player has to balance test matches, ODIs and franchise-based T20 tournaments, this record might prove to be the toughest AB de Villiers record to break in the future, unless Brendon McCullum (who is currently on a streak of 90 consecutive Test appearances since his debut) matches the South African step for step.