South Africa captain AB de Villiers hailed Hashim Amla’s record-breaking century after beating Sri Lanka in their opening Champions Trophy clash at the Oval on Saturday.
Amla struck 103 as the Proteas posted a total of 299/6 in their 50 overs before spinner Imran Tahir captured four wickets as they bowled Sri Lanka out for 203 to complete a comfortable 96-run victory.
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It was Amla’s 25th ODI ton as he became the fastest batsman in the history of the game to reach 25 hundreds in the 50-over format in international cricket.
The right-hander took 151 innings to reach the 25-century milestone, ahead of India captain Virat Kohli, who took 162 innings, and Sachin Tendulkar, who reached it in 204 innings.
De Villiers said about Amla after the game: “It was an amazing innings. Hash did really well to assess the conditions, and communicated well with us what kind of score was going to be good.
“He’s an amazing player and a great asset for us. And not just on the field but off the field. He’s a great human being.
“I’m so very happy for him, all the runs he’s scoring, hopefully we have many more years of it.”
South Africa’s next game in the tournament is against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Wednesday.
