The greatest ODI XI of all time

#5 AB De Villiers

What do we say about AB; when talent meets inventiveness, audacity and fearlessness, we get a batsman of the ilk of ABD. He is an amalgamation of every possible attribute that could be associated with a batsman, rather sportsmen in general. ABD is, perhaps, one of the few ‘complete’ batsmen the game has ever seen. Our generation has not been privileged enough to see Sir Viv Richards bat, but this guy has gone a long way in offsetting that loss.

With shots all around the park Mr. 360, as he is widely called, is a nightmare to all the bowlers. “AB de Villiers is the definition of a Cricketing Genius” – Michael Vaughan, former England captain going gaga over AB.

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0
AB De Villiers	2005-2016*	206	197	34	8742	162*	53.63	8753	99.87	24	48	6

AB has already scored over 8700 runs in ODIs at a staggering average of over 53 and improbable strike-rate of 100. To put it into perspective, in the ODI history among people who have scored over 2000 runs only 2 players have managed a better strike rate than AB, Shahid Afridi – 117 and Virender Sehwag – 104 but their averages are 23 and 35 respectively. ABD is the only player in the history to score at a rate of 100 and keep up an average of over 50.

He holds the record for the fastest ODI 100 when he swashbuckled his way to a 31 ball century against the West Indies at Jo’burg. He is also an exceptional fielder, possibly the best all-round fielder post Jonty Rhodes.

He is yet to win a cricket World Cup, irrespective of that he will go down in the history of the game as an all-time great.

Contenders: Michael Clarke, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Yousuf, Mike Hussey and Mahela Jayawardene