AB de Villiers is not the greatest South African batsman: Lance Klusener

May 19, 2016 at 11:15 AM

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AB de Villiers is not the greatest South African batsman: Lance Klusener

One of the best all-rounders of his time, Lance Klusener has said that the barring the West Indies not many teams can boast of having a quality all-rounder.

“Windies have some of the best in the world. All-rounders like Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard and Carlos Braithwaite have done pretty well for the team and their World Twenty2O triumph was praiseworthy,” Klusener, who is currently in Chennai to guide budding cricketers in the Ultimate Sports coaching camp organized by Golden Goose, told reporters on Wednesday (May18).
Klusener said that having a genuine all-rounder in the team is very important as they play a pivotal role in helping the team to win the matches.Talking about South Africa, he said that Chris Morris is the only option as an all-rounder fro the team.

“It’s important to have genuine all-rounders because they will win you the matches. If you talk about South Africa, we were lucky to have some of the world’s best all-rounders in Brian McMillan, Hansie Cronje, Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock. But now barring Chris Morris, we do not have too many players with all-around ability. I think it comes in a circle and I’m sure South Africa will produce some great all-rounders in the coming years,” Klusener said.

Apart from batting and bowling, fielding also plays an important role in today’s cricket. Klusener, who was part of one of the best fielding units in the world, said one doesn’t need to be extremely talented to be a good fielder.

“It rather requires hard work and proper guidance to improve fielding technique. Fielding is one aspect which is non-negotiable. Quality fielders will make the difference. Nowadays, it’s difficult for a cricketer to prolong his career on the basis of one strength. It’s important for a batsman to be a good fielder and same applies to a bowler too. You can’t compromise with it,” the 44-year-old veteran of 171 One-Day Internationals and 49 Test explained.

Talking about South Africa’s batting sensation AB de Villiers, Klusener said that while AB de Villiers is certainly a great batsman but he is not the greatest South African batsman ever.
“AB is phenomenal and is certainly one of the great South African batsmen. But I don’t think it’ll be proper to call him best-ever before he calls it quits. There have been many South African batsmen who never had a chance to represent the country. So, it’s extremely difficult for me to compare him with those cricketers,” Klusener said.

When asked if de Villiers is better than Virat Kohli, Klusener said, “No way you can compare these two players because both of them are the best and can win you matches single-handedly. It would be unfair on my part to single out one of them,” he added.
Klusener, who retired from the game in 2004, is now aspiring to become a coach. He was the chief coach of Dolphins and served Mumbai Indians as bowling coach for three years. In 2010, Klusener turned down the offer from Bangladesh to become the bowling because his family was sceptical about relocating to Dhaka.
“Yes, that’s my aim. I’ve been working out my plans and priority is to get back to some serious coaching in near future. I have coached a high-profile team like Mumbai Indians and hope to be back in Indian Premier League soon,” Klusener concluded.

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