Excellence, pyrotechnics and 360-degree wizardry: The magic of AB de Villiers

We apotheosized Tendulkar, venerated Ponting, honoured Sangakkara, and revered Dravid. But let’s be honest, none of them was AB de Villiers.

AB de Villiers reminds me of a butcher: hostile, savage, an absolute slaughterer. The one who will slay the animals and mince their meat. I don’t believe in reincarnations, but I’ll believe the claim of de Villiers being a butcher in his previous life. Not much changed in his next birth. The animals were replaced by bowlers and the cleaver by a bat.

And yet he reminds of a monk: placid, quiet, and nonchalant. A man with the most disarming smile. He perhaps was the most ostentatious while he wielded his wand, but was the simplest, humblest, and the most unpretentious off the field. In all his years of association with the beautiful sport, he spent most of the time as a cricketer beyond compare. To embody as many qualities under one roof as he did was only a mark of genius and brilliance.

The rise

When he came to the scene in 2004, Graeme Smith had very recently worn the hat of captaincy. South Africa was witnessing some marvellous talents- all of whom would become the legends of the game- making way inside. Kallis was coming of age, Pollock was around, Steyn was in the making, and the team was metamorphosing into an unconquerable unit.

De Villiers declared “I’m here to stay” in very much his debut series. 362 runs at 58.39 against England in a five-Test series? I doubt there is a way better than that to announce an arrival. It soon became evident that ABD was cut from a different cloth. He was far more than just an inveigling talent and he made it manifest through his wondrous exploits.

A knock for the ages came in 2008 at Ahmedabad when he scored an unbeaten 217 in a winning cause against India. It was the era when South Africa’s overseas dominance gained prominence and they marked themselves as a team for which winning was a habit. Overseas wins are always revered and so were the Proteas, for they were magnificent travellers. It was during this reign that de Villiers cemented his spot with utter vehemence.

Excellence, pyrotechnics, and 360-degree wizardry

He was (still is) a player one could just not take their eyes off. Be it through an outrageously unorthodox shot or a gravity-defying moment of fielding brilliance, ABD always remained in the centre of attraction. He used to hit at will, pierce invisible gaps, play with the mind of the opposition, and just make the game obey his command. There was not one, but many things that were simply magical about him.

A glorious drive down the ground, a stylish whip past the midwicket, a modish pull or a slice off the short ball, and just when the bowler felt he has seen all of him, AB would be set with a new trick up his sleeve. He would unfurl the most unimaginable shots with ridiculous ease. I run short of names, perhaps most would, when it comes to defining his shots. It is indeed difficult.

He would cartwheel all the way from East to West to play a little paddle shot, or become a left-hander in a split second and hit an incomprehensive switch hit, or sit down on a knee to slog sweep one over square leg or dispatch another over long-leg through almost a flick off his lap! A ball bowled way outside the off stump? No matter, he could still fly it over fine leg! The one bowled drifting wide down the leg side? Boom! Reverse swept over third-man! Well, he aptly earned the sobriquet of Mr. 360.

It seemed as if from the time the ball left a bowler’s hand to the moment it reached his bat, he had enough time to make coffee, finish a book, invent a new shot, and execute it with sheer perfection. His magic with the bat brought a grin on the face of his fans, but only tears in the eyes of bowlers, a million of whom will attest to that. He smothered Dale Steyn for 23 in an over in an IPL game. Who does that? Steyn… 23… ABD, simple.

A dazzler in colours, a saint in the whites

For a challenge, not even in hand-cricket can one make a 31-ball century. And AB did against the hapless West Indies in an international encounter. His unbelievable credentials in white-ball cricket often overshadowed his genius in Test cricket. But he certainly should not be remembered merely for his murderous stroke-play.

Be it the messianic 381-ball 174 in 2008 versus England to deviate the match in South Africa’s favor, or the incredibly gritty 220-ball 33 in 2012 versus Australia to draw, de Villiers was perseverance personified. Not to mention his indescribable blockathon against India in 2015, when he scored 43 off 297 on a demonic fifth-day Delhi track.

It is an astronomical task for a hitter like him to maintain such militaristic discipline and eschew his inclination to unleash natural shots. But if he played the metal guitar with expertise, he played the piano to perfection as well. A 44-ball 149 and a 297-ball 43, a 66-ball 162 and a 220-ball 33. That’s ABD for you.

The darling of the crowd

In India, no overseas cricketer received a reception mightier than ABD. His name was chanted with as much fervour as that of Tendulkar or Dhoni. Unlike them, he wasn’t born in India or play for India, yet he was the son of India. Some might say IPL played a major role in that, but why didn’t anyone else gain such unconditional love and unequalled incense?

We apotheosized Tendulkar, venerated Ponting, honoured Sangakkara, and revered Dravid. AB’s own countrymen; Amla was magnificent, Smith was astute, and Kallis was legendary. People kept talking about the fab-four- Kohli, Smith, Root, and Williamson. But let’s be honest, none of them was AB de Villiers.

100 Test matches in a career is a mighty fine feat. Hanging around for that long speaks for itself. Call it destiny or whatever, ABD achieved this landmark not just in India, but in Bengaluru. The city promised to make his 100^th Test his home-Test and it did indeed.

When du Plessis was dismissed, the stadium erupted in joy. Not for the wicket, not for the bowler either, but for the man set to walk in next. Make no mistake, the crowd frantically applauded whenever India took a wicket, but that day the noise was louder when AB slammed a boundary. The venues were immaterial, ABD was always the darling of the crowd.

Sabbatical and comeback

Not once did de Villiers average lesser than 47 in a year in Tests after 2008. However, in 2016 he averaged an abominable 24.80. That he played only 3 Tests in the season is worth a mention, but equally mentionable is that he managed only 88 runs. 2016 was clearly not his year. An average of 42.38 in a year in ODIs isn’t bad, but for someone who averaged in excess of 70 consecutively for the last two years, it certainly showed a dip of form. The last time he averaged below 50 in ODIs in a year was also 2008.

He kept playing limited-overs cricket, however, he did not represent the Proteas in the whites for 24 months, barring a solitary Test against Zimbabwe in 2017. AB returned after a 2-year-long sabbatical from Tests when India was touring South Africa in 2018. In Cape Town, he came in at 12 for 3 and changed the course of the game through a defiant 65. His 80 in the second innings at Centurion was grittier where he came in at 3 for 2.

His performance against Australia, in what later proved to be his last Test series, was phenomenal. The series was marred by ignoble controversy (read Sandpaper gate), however, AB had nothing to do with that. He just did what he did the best- playing cricket. 126 at Port Elizabeth was in full control after which he went on to make 3 consecutive half-centuries and amassed 427 runs in the series at 71.17 in 8 innings.

Left too soon

Fast forward to 23^rd May 2018. “I’ve had my turn and to be honest, I’m tired”. That’s it. After 420 matches, 20,014 runs, 47 centuries, and 109 half-centuries that’s how he hung up his audacity and forfeited a chance to score God knows how many. He ended second to only Kallis in the list of most runs for South Africa in international cricket. He retired averaging 50 above in both Tests and ODIs. Only 15 men in Tests and 3 in ODIs have played more than 100 innings and yet retired with an average above 50.

He never wrapped his hands around an ICC trophy, he didn’t breach the 5-digit barrier in Test (9577) or ODI (8765), he didn’t surpass Kallis to become Proteas’ summit, but in a game fixated on numbers and achievements, de Villiers’ legacy transcended all. And let’s not forget that he left the game when he could still turn it around. It’s beyond our jurisdiction to enter into the merits of his decision, but tired? He never looked at least.

When he returned after months of inactivity to play in the Solidarity Cup, he showed that even at 36, there’s no one who could stop him from flowing. Watching him bat that day, I was but forced to ask “Why did you go Abraham!?”