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The South African star batsman AB de Villiers has turned 39 today. AB de Villiers played his last International match in 2018 and his last IPL game was way back in 2021. de Villiers International career spanned over 13 years and he was able to smash more than 20,000 runs in international cricket. AB de Villiers was a phenomenal batsman in IPL as well. in the 14 IPL seasons he played from 2008-2021 he went onto record 5,162 runs in 184 games respectively.
Let us have a look at his remarkable career in numbers
- AB de Villiers is the 5th highest run-scorer in World Cup events overall after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Brian Lara. He has played only 3 World Cups in his career and in all of those, he scored an ODI century against the West Indies team.
Highest batting avg in WC's (Minimum 20 matches):
AB de Villiers - 63.52*
M.Clarke - 63.42
Viv Richards - 63.31
Rahul Dravid - 61.42
Faf du Plessis - 57.87
- In 2008, AB de Villiers smashed 217* vs India in Ahmedabad while batting at number 6 position
Highest Test score while batting at number 6 (or) lower position in away (or) neutral venue :
Ben Stokes - 258 vs SA in Cape Town, 2016
Kevin Walters - 250 vs NZ in Christchurch, 1977
AB de Villiers - 217* vs Ind in Ahmedabad, 2008
- In December 2008, South Africa chased down 414 runs in the 4th innings of Test match which is the 2nd highest overall. AB de Villiers' 106* in 4th innings helped SA to defeat Australia at Perth.
- AB de Villiers is the only South African batsman to have a 50-plus batting average in ODIs. (Min 1000 ODI runs). He has smashed 9427 runs for South Africa at a batting average of 54.17 with a 100-plus Strike Rate.
Most ODI runs with 50 Avg + 100 S.R:
AB de Villiers - 9577
Shubman Gill - 1254
Sanju Samson - 330
- In 2010, AB de Villiers smashed 278* vs Pakistan, Abu Dhabi. That remained to be the highest score by a South African batsman in Test Cricket until Hashim Amla's 311* vs England during 2012.
- AB de Villiers was the number 1 ODI batsman in ICC rankings at the end of the year 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016. Despite tough competition from Virat Kohli and Hashim Amla, he managed to keep himself at the number 1 ranking. He has won ICC ODI player award thrice in 2010, 2014 & 2015.
- He captained the South Africa limited overs side from 2012-2017. He became only the third SA player to captain 100-plus ODI (103) matches and ended up winning 59 matches as skipper. Has a good win ratio of 57.28%.
- In 2015, De Villiers entered record books for smashing the fastest ODI fifty, ODI century and also the fastest ODI 150 in the same match against West Indies.
- AB de Villiers is the highest run-scorer in men's T20 WC for South Africa.
Most runs for South Africa in men's T20 WC:
AB de Villiers - 717
JP Duminy - 568
Jacques Kallis - 433
- AB de Villiers is the only batsman to smash 200 Sixes for South Africa in ODIs.
Most Sixes by a batsman in a calendar year in ODIs:
AB de Villiers - 58 in 2015
Chris Gayle - 56 in 2019
Shahid Afridi - 48 in 2002
- In 2018, he became only the second SA batsman after Jacques Kallis to complete 20,000 runs in international cricket.
- AB de Villiers has smashed 25 centuries in ODIs and all 25 centuries were above the Strike rate of 100-plus overall.
- AB de Villiers holds the record for winning most man of the match award (25) in IPL history.
- AB de Villiers has recorded 5162 runs in IPL.
Most runs by an Overseas Player in IPL:
David Warner - 5881
AB de Villiers - 5162
Chris Gayle - 4965
Highest S.R in IPL (Min 1000 runs):
Andre Russell - 177.88
Sunil Narine - 162.69
Virender Sehwag - 155.44
Glenn Maxwell - 153.88
AB de Villiers - 151.68
Most Sixes in IPL:
Chris Gayle - 357
AB de Villiers - 251
Rohit Sharma - 240
- AB de Villiers has smashed 2 Centuries for RCB in IPL. In both instances he smashed 100-plus runs through boundaries alone.
Most time smashing 100 (or) more runs just through boundaries in IPL:
Chris Gayle - 3
AB de Villiers - 2
Brendon McCullum - 1
Sanath Jayasuriya - 1
Rishabh Pant - 1
Quinton de Kock - 1