da pinnacle： Ten numbers that illustrate AB de Villiers’ greatness in Tests and ODIs

da pinup bet： S Rajesh and Shiva Jayaraman23-May-20181 – AB de Villiers is the only batsman who has played 50-plus innings at a 50-plus average and a 100-plus strike rate in ODI cricket. The batsman who comes closest is MS Dhoni, who had a 50-plus average and a 100-plus strike rate after 42 ODI innings.ESPNcricinfo Ltd324.15 – The difference in strike rate between de Villiers’ fastest ODI innings (min 40 balls) and his slowest Test innings (min 100 balls), the highest among all batsmen. In his 44-ball 149 against West Indies, in 2015, he had a strike rate of 338.63, while he had a strike rate of 14.48 in his 43 off 297 balls against India, also in 2015.5 – ODI hundreds when coming in to bat after the 25th over; no other batsman has more than two such hundreds (Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler have two each). De Villiers also has 21 ODI hundreds at No. 4 or lower; the next best is 17, by New Zealand’s Ross Taylor.ESPNcricinfo Ltd31 – Balls taken by de Villiers for his century against West Indies, the fastest in ODIs. He also holds the record for fastest ODI fifty (16 balls), and fastest ODI 150 (64 balls)2 – Batsmen who have scored 5000-plus runs at 50-plus average in both Tests and ODIs: de Villiers and Virat Kohli.1 – De Villiers is the only wicketkeeper-batsman to have completed the double of effecting 10-plus dismissals and scoring a hundred in a Test. He did so against Pakistan in Johannesburg in 2013.57.68 – AB de Villiers’ Test average since the start of 2008. Among batsmen with 5000-plus runs in this period, only two have a higher average: Steven Smith and Kumar Sangakkara20014 – Runs made by de Villiers in international cricket. In the period since his debut in December 2004, only Sangakkara (21,437) has scored more international runs.62.11 – De Villiers’ Test average at No. 5, the best among all batsmen with 2500 or more runs at this position. Michael Clarke is behind the South Africa batsman with an average of 60.80.71.16 – De Villiers’ average in his last Test series, the second highest among among batsmen who have scored 300-plus runs in their last series, in the last 30 years. Only Brian Lara signed off with a greater flourish, averaging 89.60 in his last series, against Pakistan.

Batsman Opp Runs Inns AveBrian Lara PAK 448 5 89.60AB de Villiers AUS 427 8 71.17Chris Rogers AUS 480 9 60.00Sourav Ganguly AUS 324 8 54.00Viv Richards ENG 376 8 53.71ESPNcricinfo Ltd