Trivia Thursday feat. AB de Villiers

A generational talent like AB de Villiers might be a delight to watch on the cricket field, but is a nightmare to describe for one can soon run out of adjectives. When words fail to capture the genius of a player like the Protean superman, we turn to numbers to do justice to his batting supremacy. Presenting a list of 5 among the long-list of records held by AB de Villiers, a truly one of a kind cricketer.

50, 100, 150 - AB de Villiers holds the record for the fastest 50, 100, and 150 in ODI cricket. The fastest 50 off 16 balls and the fastest 100 off only 31 balls came in a single innings against a hapless West Indies side in Johannesburg in 2015. Just a month later, he would go on to torment the same opposition, only this time at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground in a World cup game, breaking the record for the fastest 150, bringing the milestone up off only 64 balls. 

16 - The game against the Windies at Johannesburg also saw de Villiers equal the record for the most number of sixes in an ODI inning at the time. De Villiers cleared the boundary 16 times which equaled the record at the time held by Rohit Sharma. However, the record was broken recently by England captain Eoin Morgan in the 2019 World Cup against Afghanistan with 17. 

278 - AB de Villiers’ highest Test match score of 278 is the second-highest score by any South African batsman away from home. His unbeaten 278 came against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, one of the three venues for the Dream 11 IPL 2020. The score is the highest by any South African batsman on Asian soil.

78 - AB de Villiers had not gotten out for a duck in Test cricket in his first 78 innings. The streak is the longest for any batsman in Test cricket. Having made his debut in 2004 against England, his first duck came in his 79th Test innings while playing against Bangladesh.

101.09 - AB de Villiers tops the list for the most number of runs scored by a batsman in ODI cricket with a strike rate of 100 or more. De Villiers’ tally of 9577 ODI runs at a Strike rate of 101.09 is comfortably the highest tally, the next best being Virender Sehwag’s 8273.