South African legend picks Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav among his Top 3 T20 batters

Former South Africa cricketer Hashim Amla has revealed his current top three favourite T20 batters. The 42-year-old shared his selections on a YouTube podcast with Shubhankar Mishra, released on Saturday, November 8.

When asked about his choices, he first picked former India skipper Rohit Sharma, saying:

“Rohit. He’s still one of my favourites. I love watching him. The elegance, man. Even in T20 cricket, he still has a smoothness in his shots. It’s beautiful to watch him play T20 cricket.”

Rohit Sharma retired from T20Is after guiding India to glory in the 2024 T20 World Cup, but he continues to play franchise cricket for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League.

Next, Amla picked former South African batter Heinrich Klaasen. The 34-year-old has appeared in 265 T20 games, scoring 5,927 runs at an average of 31.19 and a strike rate of 149.44, including 35 fifties and three hundreds.

Lastly, he chose current India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav. The Mumbai batter has featured in 337 T20 matches, amassing 8,776 runs at an average of 35.10 and a strike rate of 152.83, with 59 fifties and six hundreds to his credit.

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Hashim Amla includes two South Africans among the five most impactful cricketers of all time

During the same interaction, Hashim Amla was asked to name the five most impactful cricketers of all time. He began by selecting former West Indies captain Viv Richards, who was part of the team’s 1975 and 1979 World Cup-winning squads.

Amla also included his South African countrymen AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis in the list. AB scored 20,014 runs across formats in 420 games, including 109 fifties and 47 hundreds, while Kallis amassed 25,534 runs in 519 games, hitting 149 fifties and 62 hundreds, along with 577 wickets.

He further named legendary former India batter Sachin Tendulkar, the all-time highest run-scorer in international cricket, with 34,357 runs in 664 games, including 164 fifties and 100 hundreds. Lastly, he picked former Pakistan seamer Wasim Akram, who took 916 wickets in 460 games across formats, including 31 five-wicket hauls.