Hashim Amla: More than just a batsman.

Hashim Amla, one of the most gifted and prolific run scorer for South Africa in the last 8 years. His flicks and cuts are a treat to watch. There are some reasons behind his success.. Here we decode, and present to you, 5 of the reasons why he is one of the best.

1. Calmness

Calmness with a hint of aggression is the best formula for a cricketer to perform exceedingly well in the game. There is no doubt that Hashim Amla follows this formula and has succeeded in matches. He is a person of very calm demeanor with a soothing look on his face everytime he is batting. Be at the start of the innings or a final over with 20 runs needed he doesn’t look tensed,he stays calm and as I said has a cool look on his face which really can frustrate the opposition. Yet he is aggressive in his game style and this deadly combination of calm nature and aggressive style of play has destroyed the opponent team.

2. Elegance

Image // Cricket Country

Cricketers have certain trade mark shots which are so elegant that people stay in awe all the time remembering the shot always. Hashim Amla is an effortless timer of the ball, wth his elegance constantly striking in the drives, his cover drives are just exceptional.

3. Experience

Amla is one of the most experienced player of the team and as I said the leader of South Africa’s batting unit. He has nearly a decade of international experience which has helped young South African batsmen such as AB De Villiers, David Miller,Faf Du Plessis, etc to develop and rise as a 'classic' batsmen. He has played all over the world be it England, Australia, New Zealand, India and has scored heavily against them away from home. This has led to the superior performance of South Africa in all formats.

4. Hunger for runs.

Image // SkySports

Amla was not a runaway success at the start of his career in the international arena of the game. He was criticized for his batting technique as he scored only 36 runs vs England in the whole series in 2004-05. Due to these negative experiences,downs in his career his hunger of runs eventually grew and he quickly began to score those big centuries in no time. His innings of 253* and 311* show his hunger of runs. This hunger of runs hasn’t subsided and is growing with time as he keeps on scoring heavily.

5. Adaptability & Consistency

Image // The Telegraph

As I said earlier his hunger of runs increased he began scoring runs consistently and due to this remarkable consistence he has scored 23 hundreds in Tests and 21 hundreds in ODIs. This shows his consistency. Another reason why he is so successful in this tricky game is his adaptation from Tests to ODIs to T20s. He has scored these big hundreds in tests and ODIs,he is no less in t20s. He has a strike rate of around 130 in T20s which is significant.

These are the reasons why Hashim Amla is undoubtedly the best batsman in the current lot. As South Africa starts the tour versus India, Indian team would wary of this destructive batsman.