A.B. de Villiers’ outrageous (you could even call it ‘out of this world’ without being guilty of hyperbole) strokeplay on Friday left cricket aficionados and experts all over the world speechless -till they found their voices to compare it with Chris Gayle’s double century against Zimbabwe of a few days earlier.

The comparison with Gayle, I believe, is pointless for the sheer disparity in range of strokes of the two batsmen. The period of silence that preceded this comparison was eloquent testimony to de Villier’s genius. When you are awestruck, words are a waste of time.

Gayle himself could do no more than manage a shrug of his shoulders as he saw the South African captain flayed the West Indies attack to all parts of the SCG. There were several strokes Gayle knew even he was incapable of playing.

For a while there was a debate brewing in cricket circles whether de Villiers was the best among contemporary batsmen. He had as rivals Michael Clarke, Virat Kohli, his gifted team-mate Hashim Amla, pugnacious Dave Warner, emerging brilliant batsmen like Kane Willimason and Steve Smith and, of course, the mercurial Gayle. But in the last month or so, the issue has more or less been resolved.

De Villiers hit the fastest ODI century some weeks back, off just 31 deliveries, building on the fastest half century in the same innings. On Friday he made the fastest 150, leaving the West Indies bowlers and fielders gasping for breath.

Gayle, of course, has the fastest double ODI century to his credit. De Villiers has no double ton to his credit yet but that is not germane to the issue. Nor indeed is frenetic hitting in limited overs cricket. To understand why the South African has surged ahead of all competition and is numero uno, he must be assessed on his records in all formats.

The stats are outstanding, but it is the quality of his batsmanship that marks him out as the most versatile, resilient and creative batsman in the game today. There is nothing that de Villiers cannot do. Or almost.

Against India, as we know, he was run out fairly cheaply which cost his team dear. Opposing teams, therefore, need a moment of brilliance to exceed de Villiers’s or some luck to get him early, otherwise they will be reduced to being mere spectators.

In the context of the World Cup, de Villiers’s rousing 161 has brought South Africa storming into serious contention for the title just when it appeared the team had gone off the boil prematurely. Other teams better watch out from here.

India can breathe easy for a while having pulled off an impressive win over South Africa earlier. But they are warned that a repeat performance — if the two teams meet again — will require something extra.

On Saturday, India’s task is relatively easy: beat UAE by a margin big enough to improve their net run rate further so that their position at the top of the pool is not imperiled even if there is a hiccup along the way in the league stage. Indeed, there is scope here for some experimentation that Dhoni should exploit.

The West Indies, of course, have had their net run rate – along with their morale – ruined by the huge 257 runs defeat to South Africa. This allows Pakistan a sniff at redemption. Beating the Proteas seems a mountain too high to climb on current form, which means Misbah and his team will have to win the remaining three matches and hope for the best.

Their severest test comes on Sunday against Zimbabwe. Not only does Pakistan have to win this match but handsomely so to improve their staggeringly low net run rate which in Pool B could play a decisive factor.

Failure to beat Zimbabwe - no pushovers mind you - could have serious repercussions for the team from the country’s highly emotional fans. As Moin Khan, the chief selector, would caution: it is not always a joyous return back home.

The writer is a former Sports Editor of Times of India and a leading cricket analyst

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2015

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