Hashim Amla seeks turn in fortunes in 100th Test appearance

South Africa will take on Sri Lanka in the final Test of the series on January 12 at the Wanderers. All eyes will be glued on middle-order batsman Hashim Amla. Amla is the senior most player in the side but has largely been out of form in the recent past. He is one of the few batsmen who have not been among the runs this series. Interestingly, the match will be Amla’s 100th Test match.

His records in the longest format of the game are staggering. The numbers are only a testimony of how good a player he has been for South African cricket. The hosts will walk into the game as clear favorites. At the same time, they will hope for Amla to return back to form too. With a dip in form has seen his career average drop below 50 for the first time in last four years.

His string of low scores can be seen in the fact that he has not hit a single half century in his last five Test appearances. He will expect that the fortunes turn in his favor at the Wanderers. The venue has been a happy hunting ground for the former skipper. He averages 49.46 at the venue in the 9 matches that he has played there. Out of his 25 Test tons, 2 centuries have come at the very same venue.

As per ESPNcricinfo’s stats, Hashim Amla has scored runs at an average of only 33.62 since July 2015. In the 17 matches that he has played, he has aggregated only 908 runs.  However, considering the caliber of the batsman, it is only safe to say that he will definitely hit back form soon. He is one of the most prolific run getters in Tests at number 3 position.

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He has amassed 6558 runs while batting at number three with 22 tons at the position. He is fourth on the list of most runs at the number 3 position in Test cricket after Kumar Sangakkara, Rahul Dravid, and Ricky Ponting.