AB De Villiers. The name itself is enough to create a sense of fear in the heart of any bowler, whether it is at the international level or at the mega-events like IPL. The South African batsman has been one of the most destructive batsmen to have graced the gentleman’s game and has earned the title of “Mr 360 degree” owning to his ability to hit the ball out of the park at will.
With a number of unorthodox shots in his arsenal, the former South African limited-overs captain is one of the best finishers the cricket lovers have ever seen.
Besides being named as one of the Wisden cricketers of the decade and winning the prestigious ICC Player of the year award thrice in his international career that spanned 15 years, there are a number of accolades and achievements that this South African wicketkeeper-batsman has won throughout his career.
However, there are also a few unwanted records that have been created by this flamboyant batsman, at which we will have a look in the following lines.
Dismissed most times on a duck in a calendar year
For a player like AB De Villiers, it is natural to bring his aggressive game into play from the word go. While this has helped him dominate almost every bowling attack that he has faced in his career, it has backfired on a few occasions as well. The 36-year-old batsman holds a record of getting out four times on a duck in 2016, which is the most by any cricketer in a calendar year. Certainly, not the best record a player of AB’s stature will like to be associated with, isn’t it?
Slowest partnership in the history of the game with Hashim Amla
This is certainly one of the low points in the enigmatic South African batsman’s career as he and his partner, the then captain Hashim Amla, who went on to form one of the slowest partnerships in the history of the game, scoring a mere 27 runs off 253 balls in the second innings of the last test of the four test match series against India.
The two Protea batsmen defended every ball that came their way in order to scrape out an unlikely draw. Eventually, Amla was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja for 25 off 244 deliveries while AB fell victim to Ravichandran Ashwin for 43 off 297 balls, as the visitors lost the match by 337 runs as India sealed a resounding 3-0 victory over the visitors.
Most ODI centuries for South Africa in a loss as captain
As the captain of the South African ODI team, AB played a number of unforgettable innings and even led them to the semi-final of the 2015 World Cup that they lost against New Zealand.
However, most of his big hundreds have actually gone in vain as the South African demolisher holds the unfortunate record of scoring the most ODI centuries for his country in a loss during his regime as the skipper. Certainly a record he would want to forget.
