Hashim Amla has contributed in many victories for the Proteas with his cool,calm and collected approach. He has fantastic concentration and is not flustered by whatever the opposition says. He has been the mainstay of South-Africa’s batting order on a consistent bases and coped magnificently with the high expectations of him.
Amla has fantastic wrists, is strong off his legs and and has a superb cover-drive. He is not a big hitter of the ball and relies more on timing and working the ball into gaps. He has a solid technique. The 32-year old is a innings builder who builds a platform and lays a solid foundation for the batsmen after him to express themselves.
He is the first player of Indian descent to represent South-Africa. The opening batsmen in ODI matches for the Proteas made his test debut in 2004 but struggled in the early stages being in and out of the side. He however made a breakthrough when he scored his first century, against New-Zealand in 2006 and since it has been a fairytale for him. He was voted South-Africa’s player of the year in 2010 and again in 2013. With an average of 52.78 in Tests he is a world-class player.
Many people thought he scored too slow for One-Day cricket and he only made his debut in 2008. But he proved the doubters wrong and has flourished. The “silent warrior” as he is known has a healthy strike-rate of 88.9 in 115 matches as is his average (55.21). If you combine his One-Day and Test average (107.33) it is the best ever.
His career highlight was arguably at the iconic Lords Cricket Ground in London, England. He got 311 not out, the first triple century by a South-African. Amla holds the record for the fastest player to reach 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 runs.