In this article, we will discuss Hashim Amla’s top 3 innings in ODI Cricket. South Africa has produced some of the finest cricketers in their cricketing history. South Africa have produced some finest cricketers in their cricketing history but among all of them, Hashim Amla has arguably been the finest batter they have ever produced. He was a gentle giant whose appetite for runs was second to none. We mostly remember Hashim Amla for his prowess in Test cricket, but he was an excellent ODI batter too, therefore in his article, we will deep dive into his ODI career and pull out some of his ODI career.
In his illustrious ODI career, Amla has accumulated many ODI records to his name which is a testament to his greatness as an ODI batter. Amla has 27 ODI centuries to his name in ODIs which places him at the 6th spot in the list of most ODI centuries. Hashim Amla was the fastest batter in the world to reach 24 ODI centuries in just 142 innings surpassing Virat Kohli who took 162 innings to do the same. To point out three of the best innings in such an illustrious career is difficult but let’s try to find out the top 3 ODI innings of Hashim Amla’s career.
Here are the top 3 innings of his ODI career:
3) 129 vs West Indies – Dominica 2010
South Africa faced West Indies on 30th May 2010 at the beautiful Roseau Stadium in Dominica. While chasing a big target of 304 runs set up by the West Indies in the first innings, South Africa came back heavily on the West Indies bowling attack.
The match went down to the last ball and South Africa won it by 7 wickets while almost contributing with the bat but Hashim Amla led the charge by scoring a blistering knock of 129 runs in just 115 balls and put South Africa on the driver’s seat during the match. He hit 9 boundaries and 2 sixes in his century and was adjudged Man of the Match for his valiant knock.
2) 159 vs Ireland – Canberra 2015
Another Hashim Amla classic at the 2015 ODI World Cup at Canberra against the Ireland team where Amla played an astonishing innings of 159 runs. It was his highest score in ODIs and coming at the biggest stage of cricket made it even more special. In his innings, he went on to hit 16 boundaries and 4 towering sixes.
On the back of Hashim Amla’s heroics and Faf du Plessis’s ton, South Africa went on to put up a mammoth total of 411 runs in the match and handed a humiliating 201-run defeat to Ireland. Amla even went on to take 2 catches in the match which made it a memorable match for him.
1) 150 vs England – Southampton 2012
Hashim Amla was never known to hit the ball aggressively. Instead, he was a master in finding gaps on the field and accumulating runs while playing risk-free, yet he still managed to maintain a healthy strike rate of 88 throughout his ODI career.
Hashim Amla’s best ODI innings is a testament to the above qualities. In the 2nd ODI against England at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton, Hashim Amla played his best ODI innings. He scored 150 runs in just 124 balls on a slowish track. In his 150-run knock, he didn’t even hit a single six but hit 16 boundaries, still managed to maintain a strike rate of nearly 121.
It speaks volumes of his batting prowess as he proved that you can still score consistent runs at a brisk pace with risk-free cricket. South Africa posted a competitive total of 287 runs on the back of Amla’s innings and in response England got bundles on 207 runs resulting in South Africa winning by 80 runs.