by Bharath Seervi
AB de Villiers is the classic modern-day batsman. When out in the whites, his cover drives are a sight to behold, a throwback to the days of Mark Waugh when right-handed batsmen could hold a good debate with their left-handed counterparts on the subject of elegance. Cut to the shorter formats of the game, and AB is equally prized as an innovator, a creator of shots much like Tillekaratne Dilshan and others of the Twenty20 factory. But more than all of that, AB is an almost complete sportsperson. He is only a shade below compatriot Jonty Rhodes when it comes to plucking balls out of thin air, he keeps wickets when his team wants him to or the fancy catches him, he is a super sprinter between the wickets and, of course, has batted at pretty much every position possible for a top-order batsman.
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On his 30th birthday, here’s Bharath Seervi’s number-report;
# No.1 Batsman in ODIs and Tests at present.
# Has scored 16 ODI centuries and all those innings are at S/R of over 100. (Only other player with 10+ centuries to have that feat is Ijaz Ahmed)
# 90 Test matches without missing any test in his career so far.
# Holds the record for most number of Test innings before the first duck – 78
# Holds the record for most number of Test runs scored before the first duck – 2958
# One of only 5 players to score 3 consecutive ODI 100s.
# Has scored 2 back to back ODI 100s on 5 occasions – Most by any player.
# Has the record for most number of dismissals by a Wicket Keeper in a Test match – 11 (along with Jack Russell)
Batting Average:
Test Matches
Overall – 51.98
As WK – 57.89
In Wins – 64.77
In SA – 45.60
Outside SA – 59.85
ODIs
Overall – 49.46
As Captain – 62.34
As WK – 68.32
In Wins – 61.43
In Successful chases – 61.43
In SA – 50.74
In Opposition’s home – 57.97
In Neutral venues – 39.02
Year Wise Batting Average (last 5 years)
Year – ODIs – Tests
2009 – 54.42 – 57.20
2010 – 80.33 – 76.61
2011 – 51.88 – 47.12
2012 – 107.50 – 58.21
2013 – 50.56 – 77.75
Batting Average in last 10 matches
Tests – 76.57
ODIs – 63.75
AB de Villiers has a batting average of 55.03 in International Cricket in last 5 years (since Jan 2009) – highest by any player who has scored a minimum of 2000 International runs in the period.
You can follow Bharath Seervi’s stats updates here
Note: Stats updated till 16th February 2014.
