Jofra Archer unimpressed as fan blames him for Hashim Amla’s retirement

South Africa legend Hashim Amla, on Thursday, brought down curtains on his illustrious international career. The retirement ended his 15-year long career in international cricket that saw him set the bar higher for other batsmen. Amla, nonetheless, will continue playing domestic cricket and will also play this year’s Mzansi Super League, South Africa’s premier T20 competition. Amla bows out of the game as one of the all-time batting greats.

He started his career during the 2003-04 tour of India and soon became a batting mainstay of the side. Amla made his ODI and T20I debuts in 2008 and 2009 respectively, and he made his last appearance for South Africa at the recent World Cup. He was one of the most integral parts of South Africa’s Test and ODI teams. At his peak, Amla was one of the most consistent batsmen in the world.

In his last outing for South Africa, he scored an unbeaten 80 to help Proteas beat Sri Lanka to end their dismal World Cup campaign on a high. But overall, Amla had an underwhelming World Cup with 203 runs in seven innings. But the poor World Cup form does not at all undermine his achievement in international cricket.

His 27 ODI hundreds are the most by a South African. Amla was also the fastest batsman to 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 and 7,000 runs in ODI cricket. He has ended his ODI career with 8,113 runs at an average of 49.46, with 39 half-centuries in addition to hitting 27 tons.

In Tests, Amla amassed 9,282 runs at 46.64 with 28 centuries. He was the first South African to score a triple hundred in Test cricket, and finished as his country’s second-highest run-scorer in the format, second only to Jacques Kallis.

Archer blamed for Amla’s retirement

While the entire cricketing world was busy congratulating Hashim Amla on his illustrious career, one man blamed Archer for Amla’s decision to hang his boots. The fan took to Twitter to express his disappointment overseeing Amla retiring from the game while blaming Archer for the same, writing, “Amla (heartbreak emojis), @JofraArcher I will never forgive you”

The fan was definitely referring to the incident that took place during the World Cup when Archer hit Amla on his helmet with a sharp bouncer. Amla had to walk off the field after the blow and even missed the game against Bangladesh. But Archer was not at all amused with the accusation as he wrote, “What did I do ?”

What did I do ?

— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) August 8, 2019