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AB de Villiers: Sporting Genius: How technical tweaks helped South African break records

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South Africa's AB de Villiers speaks frankly about how changes to his technique allowed him to shatter some one-day records.

AB de Villiers is a Sporting Genius.

Cricket is his greatest skill - who can forget his record-breaking 162 runs off 66 balls against West Indies in the 2015 Cricket World Cup?!

But he is also adept at a host of other sports as Nasser Hussain discovered in our three-part series, filmed a few years ago in AB's native South Africa.

With coronavirus halting live cricket, we are re-running our programme on De Villiers on Saturdays on skysports.com, so you can marvel at his talent, hear him discuss his career, watch his batting tips, and see what happened when Nasser took on AB at golf and tennis!

In part two The Turning Point - which you can watch in the video at the top of the page - AB speaks frankly about how changes to his technique allowed him to shatter some one-day international records.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JANUARY 18: AB de Villiers of South Africa celebrates the fastest century off just 31 balls during the 2nd Momentum ODI between South Africa and West Indies at Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on January 18, 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Duif du Toit/Gallo Images)
Image: De Villiers holds the record for the fastest ODI century, from just 31 balls

De Villiers smoked a record 31-ball ODI ton against West Indies in Johannesburg in January 2015 and then cracked the fastest 150 in the format, from just 64 balls, against the same opposition in a World Cup game in Sydney a month later.

De Villiers explains how that success became possible after he focussed on playing the ball later and adapted his batting style so that he went back in his crease before coming forward when the bowler released the ball.

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AB also demonstrates how he plays the cover drive and looks to deal with spin bowlers and reveals why he doesn't look to premeditate too early.

Plus, De Villiers takes on Nasser at tennis - a sport he loved so much growing up that he looked into attending to the Nick Bollettieri Academy in America before deciding to stick in South Africa and focus on team sports.

For all that, and AB explaining how Jonty Rhodes helped him come through a tough time in his career, watch AB de Villiers: Sporting Genius in the video at the top of the page.

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