Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Well played, Kallis!' that was published in Newsband

Well played, Kallis!

Jacques Kallis is undoubtedly one of the best cricketers in the world. As a batsman, he belonged to the class of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid and Kumar Sangakkara. Kallis has scored more than 10,000 runs and his average is 55.12. Only Kumar Sangakkara has a higher batting average than Kallis. Kallis was a top-order batsman who could hit 90 mph. 

Kallis also has 292 Test wickets to his credit. He has also taken 199 catches. He is equated with world’s best all-rounders like Gary Sobers, Imran Khan, Keith Miller, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev.  

He was an attractive, classically correct player with the ability to play muscular strokes off either foot. His bowling was versatile, and he could swing the new ball, drop his length and quicken his pace when it lost its shine, and deny runs if all else failed. He could bowl nasty bouncers too and top batsmen of the world have felt uncomfortable to his bowling.

He was solely responsible for placing South Africa at the top of world cricket.

As a batsman he was Sachin Tendulkar of South Africa. But as an all-rounder, he was Kapil Dev of South Africa.

Kallis is undoubtedly the greatest test player of the modern era. He has bowed out gracefully and that is the best thing a top player should do and Kallis has shown how to do it.

Kallis proved that he was a man of skill, intelligence and passion. These qualities are rarely seen among test cricketers and that’s the reason why the cricketing world will miss him. Even off the field, he was a gentleman; there are very few controversies concerning him. He belongs to the genre of gentle and amiable giants that walked the cricketing turfs.

There are many of his fans who can’t get over the shock of his retirement. He looked rock solid in his fitness and thought he will continue for another year getting 300 test wickets and surpassing Sachin’s records for most number of 100's.

Quality all-rounders like Kallis are rare breed in the world of cricket at the moment. Kallis is not only the greatest all rounder but also a wonderful sportsman who carried himself excellently on the field and never ever showed any sign of resentment on any decision. Hat’s off to Kallis!