AB de Villiers raises the bar for batsmen

It's been a few days since AB de Villiers made that smashing century at The Wanderers, but the mind still boggles. Think of it, 149 runs off just 44 deliveries and including 16 sixes! Heck, what's going on?

The West Indies players were reduced to hapless ball-chasers as de Villiers ran amok. Normally you don't see the blithe Caribbean spirit flag even under strong assault, but this was mayhem.

There wasn't a West Indian shoulder on the field that was not drooping by the time de Villiers had finished with his batting. I venture that several bowlers around the world would still be cringing at the thought of bowling to the South African in the near future.

To give de Villiers locus standi in the contemporary game, I can say without fear of dispute that he is top of the pops among batsmen. There has been an explosion of brilliant batting talent in the game in the past 10-15 years. Pietersen (sadly sidelined), Clarke, Smith, Amla, Younis, McCullum, Gayle among the senior pros and Kohli, Warner, Smith from the new crop would all be contenders for the "best batsman" tag. But de Villiers pips them all to the post.

This is not based on the evidence of a solitary innings, but the runs he has made across formats all over the world since he made his debut a decade ago. "AB is easily not just the most dynamic, but also the most versatile batsman in the world today," said Indian team director Ravi Shastri, who was home for a short break from Australia. "He is capable of turning a match around in a few overs, in limited overs cricket, and also batting out a day or more to save a Test. That is extraordinary ability."

Indian fans, who have seen and admired de Villiers for his astonishing strokeplay in the IPL will also remember how he (with Faf du Plessis) led South Africa out of a crisis almost to victory in a Test against India in the 2013-14 season.

Coming back to his record-breaking innings, there has expectedly been a deluge of statistics but what stands out in this is his astonishing strike rate of 300+: which means more than three runs scored off every delivery faced!

Even at the most basic level of the sport, such a frenetic scoring rate seems improbable, and we are talking of an ODI match where the opponent is a full-fledged international side.

Beyond the mighty stats, therefore, I detect a trend, a cultural shift, if you will, in the sport. Look at the sheer temerity of de Villiers' strokeplay to hit 16 sixes off the 44 deliveries he faced, which is roughly one in every three!

This reflects the changed mindset of modern batsmen -- facilitated no doubt by bats that make for bazooka strokes, but even more by T20 cricket where every opportunity to score has to be seized and every dot ball is seen as detrimental.

While there are drawbacks in the format, T20 cricket has added a dimension to batting. There is a shift in emphasis from defensive technique, once considered paramount in batsmanship, to attacking strokeplay, never mind the risk.

There are pros and cons about whether T20 cricket has been good or bad for the five-day format, but one thing is sure -- it's made Tests more result-oriented as scoreboards from the turn of the century clearly testify.

So where will such attacking strokeplay lead to? Technically, a century can be scored off 17 deliveries, assuming every one of these has been hit for a six. This would necessitate not just extraordinary ability, but also massive skills to improvise.

A 17-ball century, even in limited overs cricket, seems almost impossible at this point in time. But who can guarantee whether de Villiers' spectacular record is not under imminent threat, maybe as early as in the World Cup - not the least from himself.