Always enjoyed bowling best players and Hashim Amla is definitely one of those: Josh Hazlewood

When talking about the numbers, it’s just a number and without context it means nothing. But, what if the context is Hashim Amla?

He is the fastest to reach 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 ODI runs. He is the first South Africa batter to amass 300 in Tests and first Protea to score 25 ODI centuries. He is the fourth cricketer to score 25 centuries both in one-dayers and red-ball cricket.

The pressure only mounts on him if a player keeps bagging milestones. But, to the veteran right-hander, the achievements are just number. Every time he walked in the ground with South Africa badge on his jersey, it was as if he went on a stroll around the park. On the other side, a bowlers’ technique can only be measured if he can successfully trap the best batsman and rightly so Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood could crack the tough nut.

Hazlewood deceived Amla for seven times in seven Tests. Isn’t it an achievement in itself? Hazlewood has always been one of the best pacemakers in Aussies line-up. He had mostly used for best of the opportunities he got. Hazlewood agreed that Amla was the toughest he had ever bowled to and he would miss the entire tussle with Proteas batting bulldozer.

The 36-year-old, Amla, on Thursday, announced his international retirement. There was a lot of talk going around even before the World Cup started that Amla would retire after the quadrennial event.

In an interview with cricket.com.au, Hazlewood opened up about Amla:

Josh Hazlewood, who dismissed Hashim Amla seven times in just seven Test matches, discusses the South African great's retirement pic.twitter.com/AlrHdQE3n0

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) August 9, 2019

Hazlewood didn’t shy off even a bit to say that Amla is a tremendous player and his numbers talk a lot about him. “He is a hell of a player. Not only in Test cricket but also in the one-dayers he is fastest to a lot of milestones there, even faster than Virat Kohli. So he must be a pretty handy player. I wish him all the best.”

The Kangaroo quick opines that Amla is one of the cricket greats and when asked what he would miss the most after Amla’s retirement, Hazlewood said. “It was always a good tussle. Always enjoyed bowling to the best player and Amla is definitely one of those guys.”

The numbers never lie and perfectly so, Amla fits into the context of numbers. His cricketing career has to hover a lot around the milestones and achievements.