The rigours of test match cricket is taking heavy toll of players and one player has fallen prey to this. After spate of retirements last year, the list got longer with Hashim Amla quitting Test captaincy and was replaced by Ab de Villiers during the ongoing test series against England. The star batsman was in the centre of controversy as he lost a test series in India by 0-3 margin and again put on pressure as England won emphatically at Durban to upset the applecart. The prolific run getter Amla was in the shadow of his past in Indian conditions and failed in the first test without semblance of fight. However, he made amends for his lapses with a double hundred at Cape Town and eased out the pressure on him as a batsman but fell through from the pressure of captaincy. In Indian cricket the great trio of Sachin, Rahul and Sourav were put under tremendous pressure to quit captaincy in the past. His position as a batsman was at stake and the additional pressure of captaincy took heavy toll on his captaincy as well. Amla’s journey was rather tumultuous with ups and downs but he came out successfully with stellar performance with the bat and led the side after Greame Smith quit the game in the year 2014. Amla’s retirement from test captaincy followed that of Dhoni, Steve Smith in recent times.
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