5 Records of AB de Villiers which are unlikely to ever be broken

It is funny how the words ‘great’, ‘legend’ and ‘genius’ could be used so freely in the world of cricket because sport always demands exaggeration, a lore, the necessity for creating mythical territories and a great amount of hyperbole.But there are a few players who exceed the adulation through their performances on the park, trailblazers who by doing what no one else has done, change the game for good and thereby ‘exceed expectations’ which are already very high from fans.AB de Villiers is one such player. His cult following across the globe is not just because of the legend, which is Herculean, of how he is versatile, could’ve been a superstar in any field, is a freak of nature, etc. but also because he is one man who makes you look at new possibilities. He is not one who hides behind the veil of ‘talent’.He is someone who surprises you with his talent just when you thought you’ve seen it all. No wonder then, that he has stacked up numbers which like Bob Beamon’s Leap of the Century or Bradman’s average or Sachin’s 100 international hundreds will stand the test of time.We look at a few of those records but funnily, he isn’t even finished and if anything, is only now hitting his stride. The value of a record is also seen by the difference between the highest mark and the second highest, which is a gaping hole of daylight as far as AB de Villiers is concerned.

#1 Highest strike-rate in a 100+ innings

As far as this record is concerned, there is AB de Villiers, then there is daylight and then there is the rest of the world. Against West Indies at Johannesburg in 2015, just a month before the World Cup, AB de Villiers smashed 149 in just 44 balls with 9 fours and 16 sixes.

The strike-rate for that innings was a mammoth 338.63. The next highest strike-rate in an innings of 100 or more belongs to Corey Anderson, whose 131* against West Indies came at the strike-rate of 278.72, a difference of 60 points.

An extension of this record is the highest strike-rate for a 150+ innings. AB de Villiers scored 162* against West Indies in the World Cup in just 66 balls at 245.45. Shane Watson’s 185* against Bangladesh comes a distant second at 192.70.

Even if one beats AB’s mark of fastest 100 by getting there in 30 balls, he will have to maintain that tempo for as long as he is on the crease, making this record virtually unbreakable. That it has come against a Test playing nation makes it even more spectacular.

#2 Holding the fastest fifty, century and 150 records at the same time in ODIs

This is another record that will probably be impossible to beat. Tons of things have to fall right for any player to beat this record. Some can score fast fifties. Some may even go a step ahead and score fast hundreds or 150s. But scoring all three of them is virtually impossible.

AB de Villiers currently holds the records for fastest 50 (16 balls), fastest 100 (31 balls) and fastest 150 (64 balls).

Those marks individually are impossible to break considering how many players went close but never made it to 16 balls until AB de Villiers did it. Interestingly, an extension of this record is the fact that De Villiers broke all three in the same calendar year, another mark that is hard to surpass.

#3 Most centuries at faster than 75 balls

Over the years there have been great players who were known to score at faster than run a ball. But it is amazing how a high strike-rate and lots of runs hardly go hand in hand.

Sanath Jayasuriya, a man known for modernizing ODI batting, has 5 centuries in 75 balls or less and three more in 80 balls or less. Virender Sehwag has 6 centuries in 75 balls or less and another in 77 balls. Shahid Afridi has 4 in 75 balls or less. Kohli and Gayle have two each.

AB de Villiers has 8 already and he is far from finished. 5 of these eight have come in the last couple of years, which is what makes him even more ominous. Even if he finishes on 10 centuries in 75 balls or less, he would be setting a benchmark that will likely elude both the big-hitters and the classiest batsmen.

#4 Most ODI sixes in a calendar year as captain

Recently, AB de Villiers became the first batsman to hit 50 sixes in ODI cricket and 60 in the calendar year in all formats. AB de Villiers broke the long-standing mark of Shahid Afridi whose 48 sixes has stood its ground for 13 years.

De Villiers hit 58 in half the games, 18, compared to Afridi’s 36. He also became the first batsman to hit 60 sixes in one calendar year across all formats, hitting 61 sixes and breaking Gayle’s mark of 59 set in 2012. Brendon McCullum has 49 and has three more ODIs to go, with 32 of those 49 sixes hit in ODIs.

But the record that will probably be impossible to break is that De Villiers did all this as a captain. While McCullum hit 54 last year in all formats, De Villiers’ mark of 59 this year in just 20 innings is a statistical wonder, despite the changes short format cricket has gone through.

However, the biggest difference is in ODI sixes for a captain where De Villiers’ 58* is way ahead of Sourav Ganguly’s 34 set in 2000 and McCullum’s 32* (this year, so he will still have a chance to hit a few more).

#5 5000 runs at an average of 50 and a strike-rate of 100

There are just three batsmen currently in all of ODI cricket who have scored more than 5000 runs at a strike-rate of more than 100 – AB de Villiers, Virender Sehwag and Shahid Afridi. If you lower the criterion a little bit, there are 10 batsmen with more than 5,000 runs and a strike-rate of 90.

There are just 5 batsmen with more than 5000 runs and an average over 50. Internationally, there is just one batsman with more than 5000 runs, an average over 50 and a strike-rate over 100.

The people who come closest to this mark are MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Hashim Amla, all of whom have more than 6000 runs, average over 50 and a strike rate of 89. That means there is daylight between them and AB de Villiers. De Villiers has an average of 54.21 and a strike-rate of 100.28.

Given his current form and quality, he is only likely to improve his strike-rate and average, not bring it down. In all probability, he will end up as the only batsman to finish his career with those numbers – 5000 runs, average over 50 and a strike-rate over 100. He is most likely to remain the only batsman to have reached 8000 runs with a strike-rate over 100 and an average over 50 too.

He has the highest average+strike-rate number for the 5000 club and a bunch of other run tally milestones too. Ab de Villiers also has the highest average and third highest strike-rate behind Sehwag and Afridi for anyone over 2000 runs, a much lower run tally, showing how tough it is to hit the 5000-50-100 combination.