10 best AB de Villiers innings

#5 33 vs Australia, Adelaide, 2008

De Villiers display superb technique in the 220-ball blockathon

Yes, you read that right! 33 in the best innings list of a batsman. How often do you see that? But the 33 off 220 balls AB de Villiers made against Australia at Adelaide is certainly amongst his best.

After being set 430 to win, South Africa started the final day at 77/4 and by the end of it, the score read 248/8 and the match resulted in an incredible draw. AB de Villiers curbed all his natural instincts and blocked his way to 33 and spent more than four hours at the crease.

Faf du Plessis batted brilliantly to score a 110 (spending more than 7 and a half hours at the crease) and was the hero for South Africa, but without De Villiers’s stubborn and stroke-less 33, the draw might not have been possible.

His stand of 89 with du Plessis where they batted out 67 overs was instrumental in South Africa averting defeat and staying alive in the three-test series. This innings scored at a strike-rate of 15 was as important as any other hundred for AB de Villiers.