Hashim Amla has been appointed as the captain of the South African test team. His appointment was announced yesterday.
Amla was not one of the frontrunners when the hunt for the new captain had started after Graeme Smith’s retirement. It was one of AB De Villiers or Faf Du Plessis who was supposed to take the job, but, surprisingly, the selectors gave it to Amla.
Amla used to be considered as someone who didn’t want the leadership role. He had even resigned as vice captain of the South African One Day International side in 2012 in order to focus more on his batting. So, it’s a bit surprising how he accepted this responsibility of leading the test side.
Now, the biggest challenge for Amla would be to create a happy environment in the dressing room because there would be a couple of disappointed people there including De Villiers who was considered to be the strongest contender for the captaincy post.
Talking to an Indian Cricket Website a couple of weeks back, De Villiers had made it clear that he was ready to captain the test side. So, there is no doubt that he would be a bit upset after being overlooked.
Now, after Amla’s appointment, South Africa has three different captains in three formats. Amla and De Villiers are in charge of the test and the One International side respectively, while, Du Plessis is the T20 captain.
The first assignment for Amla as the test captain of South Africa will be the tour of Sri Lanka.
Playing in Sri Lanka has always been a tough task for the overseas teams. There has hardly been any overseas team which hasn’t struggled there. So, Amla will have his work cut out on that tour.