South African great Hashim Amla has picked two Indian batsmen in his list of all-time favorite T20 cricketers. He has selected former Indian captain Rohit Sharma and current Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav among the top 3 cricketers.
Indian legend Rohit Sharma has announced his retirement from the longest and shortest formats of the game. Since his retirement, Abhishek Sharma has cemented his place at the top of the Indian batting order.
Abhishek has played 29 matches for India in the shortest format of the game and has scored 1000 runs in the season. His average is around 40 and his strike rate is around 190, with 6 half-centuries and two centuries to his name.
Rohit Sharma selected among top 3 T20I batsmen of all time
Former South African cricketer Hashim Amla has revealed his three favorite T20 batsmen. The 42-year-old cricketer recently appeared on a YouTube podcast with Shubhankar Mishra and picked former Indian captain Rohit Sharma as his favorite T20I batsman.
Hashim Amla said, “Rohit Sharma. He is still one of my favourites. I love watching him. His beauty, man. Even in T20 cricket, there is an ease in his shots. It is beautiful to watch him play T20 cricket.”
Rohit Sharma retired from T20Is after leading India to the ICC T20 World Cup, 17 years after the first win in 2007. He remains the second highest run scorer in this format.
Another Indian and a South African were picked by Hashim Amla
According to him, Hashim Amla has chosen former South African batsman Heinrich Klaasen as one of his three favorite T20I batsmen. The 34-year-old T20I star has featured in 265 T20 matches and has scored 5927 runs in his career with a strike rate of around 150.
He has 35 half-centuries and 3 centuries in his T20 career. Finally, he favored Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav, another surprise batsman in this format, who appeared in 337 T20I matches and scored 8776 runs at an average of 35.10 and a strike rate of 152.83. Surya has 59 half-centuries and 6 centuries in his T20 career.
Hashim Amla picks the five most influential cricketers of all time
During the same conversation, Amla was questioned and asked to choose five of the most influential cricketers of all time. He started by selecting former West Indies captain Viv Richards, who was part of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup-winning teams.
He then selected two other great South African players in the list, AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis, who scored 20014 runs and 25534 runs with 47 and 62 centuries respectively.
He ignored Indian stalwarts like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni and chose former cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who remains the highest international run-scorer with 34,357 runs. He scored 100 centuries for India in international formats.
Finally, he chose the only bowler in the list as he chose former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram, who took 916 wickets in 460 matches, which included 31 five-wicket hauls.
Also read: Gautam Gambhir’s former teammate exposes Abhishek Sharma’s weakness: “Yuvraj Singh will take care of it”
