Although many people rank AB de Villiers as one of the best names in ODI cricket batting history, how does the South African legend rank himself? This subject was addressed when De Villiers was asked to blind rate 10 ODI batters of the 21st century—a task that is extremely simple to botch.
When de Villiers appeared on Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali's "Beard Before Wicket" podcast, he was asked to rate each batter from 1 to 10 without knowing who would bat next. The catch was that the players had to be post-2000 versions.
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Since Sachin Tendulkar, a player who had split his greatest years between the 1990s and the 2000s, was first on the list, there was an instant stitch-up that ensued. When the two England players put him in a difficult situation, De Villiers realized he was in trouble and said, “Here we go again, I see the headlines already. If I go 9 I’m in trouble.”
Even though the Master Blaster was only in his latter years in the 21st century, de Villiers was still able to announce with confidence, "Sachin, 4."
With a giggle, De Villiers completed the remainder of his top 10, ranking Australian southpaw David Warner at number 10. This was not surprising considering their contentious history and their numerous run-ins over the 2010s.
De Villiers put his compatriot Hashim Amla just below Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting slightly above him, but he only placed one individual to be at the top of the list, placing Virat Kohli without hesitation and without the podcast co-hosts objecting. With his century-long record-breaking achievements, Kohli was the only man who truly fits in.
That is not to imply, however, that De Villiers lacked confidence in his own skills. The Protean gladly claimed the number two spot when it became available, which was a respectable ranking for a player with 25 ODI hundreds, an average of 53.50, and a strike rate higher than run-per-ball.
“Not a bad list,” declared De Villiers after wrapping up his rankings.
AB de Villiers’ full blind ranking of ODI batters post-2000:
Virat Kohli
AB de Villiers
Ricky Ponting
Sachin Tendulkar
Hashim Amla
Rohit Sharma
MS Dhoni
Kumar Sangakkara
Babar Azam
David Warner
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