5 Records of AB de Villiers which are unlikely to ever be broken

It is funny how the words ‘great’, ‘legend’ and ‘genius’ could be used so freely in the world of cricket because sport always demands exaggeration, a lore, the necessity for creating mythical territories and a great amount of hyperbole.But there are a few players who exceed the adulation through their performances on the park, trailblazers who by doing what no one else has done, change the game for good and thereby ‘exceed expectations’ which are already very high from fans.AB de Villiers is one such player. His cult following across the globe is not just because of the legend, which is Herculean, of how he is versatile, could’ve been a superstar in any field, is a freak of nature, etc. but also because he is one man who makes you look at new possibilities. He is not one who hides behind the veil of ‘talent’.He is someone who surprises you with his talent just when you thought you’ve seen it all. No wonder then, that he has stacked up numbers which like Bob Beamon’s Leap of the Century or Bradman’s average or Sachin’s 100 international hundreds will stand the test of time.We look at a few of those records but funnily, he isn’t even finished and if anything, is only now hitting his stride. The value of a record is also seen by the difference between the highest mark and the second highest, which is a gaping hole of daylight as far as AB de Villiers is concerned. 

#1 Highest strike-rate in a 100+ innings

As far as this record is concerned, there is AB de Villiers, then there is daylight and then there is the rest of the world. Against West Indies at Johannesburg in 2015, just a month before the World Cup, AB de Villiers smashed 149 in just 44 balls with 9 fours and 16 sixes.

The strike-rate for that innings was a mammoth 338.63. The next highest strike-rate in an innings of 100 or more belongs to Corey Anderson, whose 131* against West Indies came at the strike-rate of 278.72, a difference of 60 points.

An extension of this record is the highest strike-rate for a 150+ innings. AB de Villiers scored 162* against West Indies in the World Cup in just 66 balls at 245.45. Shane Watson’s 185* against Bangladesh comes a distant second at 192.70.

Even if one beats AB’s mark of fastest 100 by getting there in 30 balls, he will have to maintain that tempo for as long as he is on the crease, making this record virtually unbreakable. That it has come against a Test playing nation makes it even more spectacular.