Do you remember Hashim Amla?

 

- There was a batsman named Hashim Amla. Do you remember? I'm sure you do. Then tell me what do you know about him?

- Of course! He's the gentle monk from South Africa who was temperamentally strong with extremely solid defense, played wristy filcks and exquisite drives which fill your heart with happiness and a very passionate, very determined individual. Am I right?

- You're right, yes. Let me change my question. What do you know about Amla the ODI batsman?

- Amla and ODIs? I know he has splendid stats in ODIs and has over 25 100s. Oh yes! Just remembered something. Whenever Virat in his illustrious career crossed a milestone in ODI runs, I would surprisingly find that Amla is the fastest one to achieve it.

- Yep, bingo! Fakhar Zaman holds the record of being the fastest man to score 1k runs in ODIs in terms of innings(18). Amla meanwhile, holds the record for 2k, 3k, 4k, 5k, 6k, 7k runs and is second fastest to 8k runs after Kohli among men.

- Wow! That's literally mind blowing. Looks like he isn't very boring! In fact, the above stat was very fascinating. Tell me more!

- He definitely isn't boring! And the stats which follow are fascinating as well! 

So Amla's career started as an indifferent one as he failed to score more than 20 runs in 7 out of his first 12 innings.

- But what followed was something special! Between his debut and end of the year 2012, nobody scored runs at a better average than him (59.55) except his teammate AB de Villiers (63.57) among the batsmen who scored 3000+ runs. And these runs came at an S/R of 91.72, which was fourth best after Suresh Raina (99.35), AB de Villiers (98.45), TM Dilshan (91.75) for batsmen who fulfill the same criteria!

- Every stat you're presenting is just changing my whole perspective about Amla! Tell me more please!

- Ok. What about this? In 2010, which was his best year, he scored over 1050 runs at an imposing average of 75 with an S/R over 104! You didn't know this, did you?

- Obviously, I didn't! Tell me something about his powerplay batting, please.

- Sure! He opened in all matches for South Africa except 3, and was a very successful one! 2008-12 was his best period as an ODI batsman. In that period, he batted with an S/R of 93 in the powerplay, scoring a boundary every 7 balls and got dismissed 20 out of the total 57 innings. He had a dot % of 59 which was third lowest after Gambhir and Sehwag.

- What about middle overs? What were his outcomes vs spinners in that period?

- Against all types of spin, he has an impressive average of 65 with an S/R of 90 in middle overs! With a 34 dot ball %, he amassed over 900 runs against them.

- Wow! What about his contribution in wins?

- In that period, he smashed 2681 runs in the matches which SA won which was the highest at an impressive S/R of 95! These runs came at an average of 76, second highest after ABD (81).

- 2008-12 was indeed a golden period for him. What happened next? A slump?

- A short slump, yes. The amount of runs were still pretty decent, but his average dropped to a mere 38 in 2013. His S/R too was reduced to 84 and 80 in 2013 and 2014 respectively. But then came 2015, and with that came the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

 

South Africa reached Semi Final, but Amla had poor returns in it. While he had starts in every innings, but failed to convert them into big scores. Still he managed to score 1062 runs with an average of 50, scoring 4 tons in that calendar year!

- Tell me what happened in the period before his retirement.

- He had a very poor string of performances between Jan 2018 and his retirement. He crossed 50 only 6 times out of the 23 innings he played. In the 2019 WC, he had scores of 41, 13, 6, 55, 2, 80 and 6 as South Africa failed to qualify into the Semi Finals and finished at the 7th spot.

- Oh! Unhappy end to such a bright career. So Amla, just like any other cricketer, had some glorious highs and such poor lows. How about finishing this with a delightful stat?

- Sure! There are 13 batsmen who have scored over 8k runs in both Tests and ODIs. Sachin, Ponting, Sangakkara, Mahela, Kallis, Dravid, Lara and Sehwag are some of them.

Only two batsman among them have an average of 45+ in both formats. One is a freak named ABD. Other is a sweet and gentle guy named Hashim Amla :)