Hashim Amla Profile, News, Ranking and Personal Life

Hashim Amla

Hashim Mohammad Amla is a South African international cricketer who plays for South Africa International Team in all three formats of the game. Amla was symbolic of Test batsmen of yore who bid their time to build long innings. It often forced him into an ultra-defensive mode, carefully choosing deliveries to entertain his willow with, a weakness bowlers initially suspected. He was given time to iron out flaws just like his South African side circa 2006. It took another 11 Tests since that 149 for Amla to post a second ton, once again facing New Zealand at home in late 2007 at Johannesburg. It was the first of two consecutive hundreds, opening floodgates in the process.

Centuries in India and England a year later marked his adoption to the highest level, atoning for poor displays in those very foreign soils earlier in his career. It also sparked an ODI call-up against Bangladesh in 2008, a position he hasn't relinquished since. As South Africa returned to being in and among the best in all formats by 2009, Amla's presence in the middle-order has been one of the ingredients of resurgence. However, the monk-like cricketer hit his purple patch in 2010, scoring 1000 plus runs with a staggering average of around 75. His consistency in both, Tests and ODIs is the biggest strength of his cricketing repertoire. Amla took his awe-inspiring form for the next couple of years in ODIs as well as Tests. In 2012, he became the first ever South African to score a triple ton, when he scored 311 at the Oval.

The name Hashim Amla soon became synonyms for consistency and in the year 2013, he achieved a rare feat by becoming the first batsman since Ricky Ponting to head both the Test and ODI rankings of ICC. Amla was also handed the Test captaincy of the national team in 2014 but failed to deliver in the leadership role. He eventually stepped down.

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