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Behardien aspires to emulate de Villiers

AB de Villiers' record-breaking feats serve as inspiration to aspiring cricketers from Durban to Dunedin but it turns out he has the same effect on those in his own dressing room

Firdose Moonda
Firdose Moonda
02-Mar-2015
Farhaan Behardien on AB de Villiers: "He'll just be happy with a team win, and I'm sure we all would be"  •  Getty Images

Farhaan Behardien on AB de Villiers: "He'll just be happy with a team win, and I'm sure we all would be"  •  Getty Images

AB de Villiers' record-breaking feats serve as inspiration to aspiring cricketers from Durban to Dunedin but it turns out he has the same effect on those in his own dressing room. De Villiers' team-mates been left wide-eyed by their captain's feats, which include the fastest fifty, hundred and 150 in ODI cricket in less than a month and they expect he may have more to offer.
"It's overwhelming. It's bewilderment. It's just jaw-dropping stuff," Farhaan Behardien said. "We saw him in Johannesburg and we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Jo'burg is on the high side so the ball travels a bit further there, and that's generally a record-breaking ground. But the SCG, it's at sea level and I don't know, I'm at a loss for words. We're all in awe when we see him bat like that. He doesn't want that acknowledgment, the fact that he's breaking all these records and stuff. He'll just be happy with a team win, and I'm sure we all would be."
Behardien was with de Villiers for the last 18 minutes of his innings against West Indies on Friday, when he ripped into Jason Holder. "I had the best seat in the house for those 12 balls," Behardien said.
With de Villiers seeing the ball like a watermelon, Behardien's main focus was getting the captain on strike but de Villiers himself just wanted runs for the team. At one stage, they ran two and that's when Behardien knew who people preferred to see. "I think the crowd booed me when I got two the other night," he joked. "Luckily I hit the next ball for six. My friends back home, they actually made a joke, and they just sent me a message in like a video of the actual ball, and we just had a good chuckle about it."
In the aftermath of all that, Behardien has been left wanting to emulate de Villiers and sympathising with the bowlers who have to bowl to him. "He is a level above most batters. I don't think a lot of batters can replicate what he does - Brendon McCullum is one of them, Chris Gayle…I wouldn't want to be in the bowling analysis meeting when trying to plan for AB de Villiers. I'm glad he's on my side," Behardien said. "He's raised the bar, and [scored] the fastest 150, the fastest 100. It's something I aspire to [achieve]."
Behardien has only had one opportunity to bat so far, despite making his name as a middle-order finisher on the domestic circuit, and is relied on more as a bowler. But for him, it's about savouring an experience he has prepared his whole life for. "It's a testimony to our strong top six. Somewhere along the line there's a feeling within the team and there's a feeling within myself that I'm going to have to step up to the plate, and when that opportunity arises, hopefully I'll be ready. I've been prepping for this for a long time, for 20 years," he said. "The fact that I'm here playing in a World Cup for my country is something so special and something so dear to me that memory will keep me in good stead forever."

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent