Why AB de Villiers is the most adaptable cricketer in the game today
Every sport, over the course of time, sees old heroes go into their sunsets and newer prodigies arise and stake a claim to take their place. This fact is true to cricket as well. Every country sees their respective backbones make way for young Turks at some point or the other.
In 2004. South Africa saw one of their great opening batsmen - Gary Kirsten bid adieu to the sport after playing for 11 years. During his time, Kirsten was an opener who had the ability that is diminishing rapidly in today's times - the ability to grind the opposition in the middle.
Kirsten's retirement meant South Africa required a new opener and a year later, in 2005, a young 22-year-old Abraham Benjamin de Villiers made his debut as an opener in the Caribbean. While he didn't set the field ablaze straight away, in his third Test as an opener, he scored 178 and then backed that with yet another century at Antigua.
While his sojourn as an opener didn't last long, he started to make a real impact as a batsman in the middle-order and my first real glimpse of him came in 2008, when on his country's tour to India, he along with Dale Steyn, set up a memorable Test win for his side at Ahmedabad.
De Villiers scored a double hundred and I remember quite clearly that he played Anil Kumble particularly well, using his feet to him, en route to his 200 that helped the Proteas take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The reason why the innings sticks out for me is because not a lot of foreigners had come to India and played Kumble as well as he did in the match.
The following year, De Villiers gave a glimpse of his brutal self when he scored the first century of 2009 IPL season, smashing an unbeaten 105* off 54 balls while playing for the Delhi Daredevils against the Chennai Super Kings.
While he has played many destructive innings in due course of time, the most notable ones coming this year against the West Indies at Johannesburg and Sydney respectively, De Villiers has also evolved admirably into an extremely dependable batsman, who can understand the situation and play, according to that.
A lovely example to illustrate this point could be the excellent hundred he made at the Wanderers against India in 2013, when coming in to bat with his side staring down a likely defeat, he was involved in a near record-breaking chase for the Proteas. He made a 168-ball 103 that day.
De Villiers proves his worth again
On Friday on a gyrating pitch, it seemed as if De Villiers had got himself into an absolute tangle at the start, but after the initial struggle before lunch, he came back a much more confident player after the break and was especially negotiating R Ashwin very well, by using the crease and not getting stuck on either foot.
In the end, like is the case with all great players, De Villiers was dismissed courtesy a beauty from Amit Mishra, who bowled a leg-break that left him squared up.
There are couple of things that the right-hander does:
1.He has immense self-belief in what he is doing
Only a batsman who trusts his game to the hilt can reverse sweep a spinner like Ashwin or smash Ravindra Jadeja inside out on a turning pitch like Mohali and De Villiers did that today. It’s almost as if the fear of failure just doesn't exist in him and he think he can play any shot and get away.
2.He is very good at understanding the conditions
One of the productive areas where he gets his runs is down the ground, especially, of the spinners. But realising that Ashwin’s was getting the ball to turn in, he started to counter it by opening up the off side and scored 18 runs in that region. Only 6 runs came in the ‘V’ down the ground.
3.Knowing when to bring out his unorthodox shots
Any innovation either with the bat or ball comes out generally when a player wants quick runs or when the field is set in a particular pattern. But in the case of de Villiers, it comes without any prior indications.
It is only and only de Villiers who knows when to pull out which shot. It could at the end of the innings, the middle of the innings or even in his first ball. Nobody understands de Villiers mind other than himself.
There is little doubting that along with Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, De Villiers is right up there with the best batsman in the game today.
But at present with Kohli struggling to help India pull off wins and Smith finding it hard to pull Australia out of doldrums. AB de Villiers is probably the only batsman who can bat according to any situation and be successful in doing so.