AB de Villiers pens down emotional note for Hashim Amla on his International retirement

AB de Villiers pens down emotional note for Hashim Amla on his International retirement (Image Source: Twitter)

Hashim Amla would come as the best opener for South Africa across all formats and the batter announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on January 18, Wednesday. To add more to his records, the right-handed batter gathered 8113 runs in the ODI format, 9282 runs in the longest format of the game and 1277 runs in T20Is. 

With 55 centuries to his name across all formats, Amla lived up to his expectations, growing up in stature right from his debut. His teammate and format South African cricketer AB de Villiers took to Twitter to pen down his thoughts moments after Amla announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. 

The aggressive batter wrote that it was Amla who backed him up right from the start and claimed that he could even write a book about the veteran. Further, de Villiers claimed that the former batter gave him a brotherly backing when the going got tough and said that Amla made him feel safe in too many ways. 

You served the game to perfection: AB de Villiers

Highlighting Amla’s journey to glory, de Villiers said that it was not an easy one and claimed that people used to troll him during his early days. The former Proteas batter said that the batter inspired him in so many ways that he could not write them down or explain the same. 

“Hashim Amla.. where do I start?! Not easy. Might take me a few days, weeks, months, years. I can literally write a book about you. Humaam, thank you for always being there for me. You’ve always been a brother who made me feel safe in so many ways. Your journey wasn’t easy. ‘The guy with the weird technique’. ‘He’ll never last’. ‘He’ll never be consistent’,” de Villiers’ tweet read. 

“But then, in your own very unique way, you just walked out there, time and time again and just batted, like only you can. Calm, composed, consistent, gutsy, skilful and humble, always for the team, for your country. You inspired me in a way I can’t explain. So, today, I salute you my friend. You served the game to perfection! We can all learn from that. I did I wish I could bat with you one more time” wrote the former South African batter further.