Hashim Amla: The South African Wall

Not long back, he was giving nightmares to Indian bowlers in their own backyard. A few months later : opponents have changed, format has changed, but the man remains the same. Yes, we are talking about Hashim Amla. After remaining in sidelines during IPL and T20 World Cup, the man, ranked no 2 in tests, has returned to action and is making the Caribbean bowlers, dance to his tunes. A man who was once called “terrorist” by a famous former player and commentator, has terrorized bowlers all over the world lately.

Amla, has been is tremendous form this year, and carried his good run from Test to the shorter version of the game with a scintillating 102 in the 1st ODI against West Indies, and followed it up with a near run a ball 92 in the second one day. Looking at his records recently, he is the leading run score in test matches in 2010 amassing a mammoth 674 runs (4 matches) under his belt at an unbelievable average of 168.5 with 3 centuries (all of them coming against India).

Whether due to injury or design, in the last two years the opening berth in the one-day side lurched between a kind of ‘mix-and-match’ strategy, and then there was a period of trial and error which added up to a lot of head-scratching. Thankfully Amla has taken the responsibility of changing things. Quite why it was felt he was incapable of transferring that Test form to the one-day arena has never properly been explained, but, now with two consecutive match winning knocks, Amla has cemented his place as an opener in the ODI squad. So what adjustments did he make to his batting style to suit the ODI format. “There were a few things I had to work on and I’m still working on them. There were some, only minor adjustments. Batting up front can be the easiest time to bat; the fielders are all in the ring and you can score quickly.” said Amla. A successful county stint with Durham also helped him gain Limited Overs cricket experience. His record this year in ODIs has been impressive too. With 285 runs in 4 matches at an average of 58, Amla proved that he is perfectly fit for the Limited Overs Cricket and thus silenced most of his critics who questioned his ability to score quickly.

Its a bit early to say this, but by the look of things, it seems as Amla has become “The Wall” for the South Africans. With a solid defence, and good technique, Amla has impressed critics as well. Fans all over the world are describing Amla as South African Dravid and Mr. Consistent. Even captain Graeme Smith at a press conference mentioned him as the glue that binds their batting unit. Now it remains to be seen how he performs in the remaining part of the series, but keeping in view his purple patch, bowlers will have to come up with something new to make a crack in this wall.

For now, one thing is certain that, with these knocks as well as terrific performance in India, Amla has sealed his place for the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent.