Centurion: On any other day AB de Villiers would have taken the standing ovation from the crowd. He’ll probably be happy enough with the high praise from South Africa’s best Test batsman.
De Villiers blitzed to the fastest ever Test century by a South African on Saturday but watched, smiling, at the other end of the pitch as the country’s leading runscorer upstaged him.
De Villiers had already raced past 100 off just 75 balls — the 10th fastest 100 in Test history — by the time Jacques Kallis clipped a leg glance away for four for an emotional, and long-awaited, first Test double hundred.
Ten times in his 37 previous Test centuries the prolific Kallis had 150 or more, and failed to convert them to double centuries.
But he did on South Africa’s dominant third day of the first Test vs India — to a standing ovation from spectators and teammates at SuperSport Park. And a hug and a ruffle of his hair from De Villiers.
Kallis had finally reached the milestone after 15 years and in his 143rd Test, and De Villiers’ shining effort was set to be overshadowed — but not for Kallis.
After his best-ever Test innings, which came against cricket’s top-ranked Test team, the 35-year-old allrounder said he’d been the sideshow to De Villiers’ main event.
“AB’s innings was fantastic,” Kallis said. “It took all the pressure off me so I could just carry on knocking it around. It’s one of the best knocks I’ve seen and an absolute honour to stand on the other side and watch it.”
De Villiers blazed 129 from 112 balls — with 12 fours and five sixes — in 38 ruthless overs for his 12th Test century by the time Kallis reached his 201 not out.
De Villiers became just the second South African — and first since 1929 — to score a Test hundred in a single session before lunch.
But the 26-year-old right-hander, who also hit a South African record 278 not out against Pakistan in November, slipped into the background at his home ground at Centurion as Kallis took the crowd’s prolonged applause.
Yet, De Villiers’ progress, both on Saturday and over his 64 Tests, has not gone unnoticed by Kallis — even while Kallis has surpassed more than 11,000 Test runs at an average above 55.
“It’s great to see how far he (De Villiers) has come in his career,” Kallis said, “and he’s got that consistency now which is something we all work towards.”
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