There’s no doubt that Hashim Amla is one of the best batsmen in today’s game.
However, when talking about the all-time best in limited-overs, Amla’s is not the first name that comes to mind when talking about the best batsmen.
The South African burst onto the scene as one the classiest Test batsmen with the most elegant of techniques. He piled on the runs instantly in the longer format but it would take the right-handed genius some time before making his mark in limited-overs cricket.
For much of the early stages in his career, the 34-year-old’s orthodox technique failed to transition well in the 50-over game.
The man for the long innings, Amla would make his South Africa debut in Tests during 2004 against India. It was four years later in 2008 that he would get his first ODI cap for the Proteas.
Amla’s lack of firepower and explosiveness at the top was seen as a major handicap when it came to opening the innings in ODIs.
Despite these hurdles, the Durban-born man quickly showed that a world class batsman can adjust his game into any situation. 157 matches for South Africa later, Amla is arguably one of the greatest ODI batsmen to have played the game for his country.
He has 26 tons in the 50-over format, the fifth highest of all-time and only the second among the active players.
He sits just four centuries behind Virat Kohli who is the indisputable king of the one-day game.
For long Amla was seen as a Test specialist.
However, despite trailing in number of centuries, the rate at which Amla has scored them overshadows the Indian batting maestro.
On Sunday, Amla hit his latest ton in an unbeaten knock to guide South Africa to a 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh at the Diamond Oval in Kimberly.
In the process, he became the fastest in ODI cricket to score 26 hundreds taking only 154 innings to do so. For the record, it took Kohli 166 innings to achieve the same.
A few months back, the South African broke another of Kohli’s records, becoming the fastest batsman to breach the 7000-run mark. The Proteas batsman took 150 innings to get to that mark while the Indian skipper took 169.
Breaking records has become a bit of a habit for the 34-year-old as he remains the fastest to get to 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 runs in one-day cricket.
That he has played only 157 ODIs for the Proteas so far at 34-years of age when the likes of AB De Villiers have played many more remains a travesty and ultimately South Africa’s own loss.
No longer seen as a limited batsman in the shorter format, the South African is quietly and unassumingly etching his name as one of the greatest one-day batsman to have played for the country.
