Quote:
|
Originally Posted by BrianLara7
LOL at people overrating Kohli and Amla. They are both beasts in odi cricket, Amla is not in the top 5 test batsman (averages below 50) and Kohli is not in top 20 test batsman. Please don't reply with your opinions, I am talking about facts.
|
In his first 3 years, between Nov, 2004 and Nov 2007, Amla played 15 test matches and scored 714 runs with 1 century and averaged a mere 25.
In the past 5 years since Nov 1, 2007, Amla has played 49 matches and hit 16 centuries scoring 4,402 runs at almost 60 average (58.69 to be precise). Speaking of turning ones career around, it rarely gets any better than that.
The only other two players who averaged 55+ in the past 5 years I believe are Kallis (57+) and Sangakkara (56+) [Please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken here as my research wasn't exhaustive]
Moreover, many of these centuries/big scores were series defining, putting SA in dominant positions and sucking the life blood out of the opposition, while others were match saving ones. He's scored big runs everywhere in every conceivable condition including Ind, SA, Aus, Eng. Although the likes of Kallis, de Villiers, Smith, Steyn and Morkel have contributed heavily, Amla is probably the biggest reason why SA are currently ranked number one.