South African batting legend AB de Villiers, regarded as one of the greatest batters to have played the sport, named an Indian pacer among the three toughest bowlers he faced in his cricketing career. De Villiers, a finisher par excellence, had an illustrious career with Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. The right-hander scored 5030 runs in 181 IPL matches with a personal best score of 133, laced up with 3 centuries and 38 half-centuries -- reason why he is regarded as one the greatest foreign players to have ever played in world's richest T20 tournament.
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The ex-South Africa skipper has named two wrist spinners and one Indian pacer in his list. AB de Villiers named Shane Warne, Jasprit Bumrah and Rashid Khan as the three toughest bowlers he faced in his cricketing career.
"I think Shane Warne in 2006 the first time I travelled to Australia, not so much because of skill and technique as just the presence of the man and the aura he carried. And obviously I was quite inexperienced. I knew from the get-go that he was going to get out.
"That game felt easy, but he was just a smart, incredible player, and it worked out pretty quickly. That's my technique. It's not quite spot on when it comes to playing straight. So, he was really going slow, slow, slider straight. And I missed the straight one and not long after that, that was my weakness for 2005, 06 and 07 I would miss straight balls, especially angling a bit back," de Villiers told Robin Uthappa in a chat for Jio Cinema.
"I would fall over, touch with my head. My back lift was a little bit beyond my back and. And I had to pay the juice. I mean I had to go back to the drawing board to figure out my technique, but he was a man who could figure out little things like that and understand there's something not right with this guy's bat lift. Let's go straight and just sided it in there and ultimately I missed one," he added.
Jasprit Bumrah is the only Indian bowler on Ab De Villiers' list.
"Bumrah was always very challenging because he was so competitive, he would never back down, is always in your face so I've got a lot of respect for him and the way he plays his cricket. I got a hold of him even a few times. He came back at me and got a hold of me a few times and I love that competitiveness,
"Rashid Khan, tough to pick at night once again. Got him a few times, and he would always come back. Always in your face. He hit him with three sixes, as he was trying to get me out the next ball. And those are the kind of bowlers I always found difficult to face and always had a lot of respect for," added de Villiers.