Kallis has been in great form throughout the year

South Africa limited overs captain AB de Villiers and Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene have both paid tribute to South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis for his outstanding performance throughout the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20.

In a group stages match against Zimbabwe, Kallis recorded his best bowling figures in a Twenty20 International, taking four wickets while giving away just 15 runs.

De Villiers stated that it was amazing how Kallis was still able to stay on top of his game at the age of 37, and that the South African team should consider themselves lucky for having such an experienced veteran in the side.

Sports24 quoted de Villiers as saying: “Jacques is an amazing player, one of a kind. Obviously I’ve no idea how he keeps doing it, I am jealous at what he gets right at this old age, I can’t think of myself doing that at that age. He is a wonderful player and we are grateful to have him in the squad.”

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene also had some kind words for Kallis, saying that he was the best all-rounder of this generation to play in all three formats of the game.

“I don’t think anyone would disagree that Jacques would be the best all-rounder in our generation in all forms of the game, he’s improving everyday and that’s because of the hunger that he has and the competitive edge. He didn’t show any complacency when he went out against Zimbabwe, the intensity was the same, that’s a quality that every young cricketer should have. Jacques is a great opponent and that level of players, that’s what they want to do. They don’t want to be remembered as players who used to be brilliant, not so any more but they want to be at the top as long as they play,” Jayawardene said.

Kallis made his international debut in 1995 and has scored more than 10,000 runs and taken over 200 wickets in both ODI and Test cricket.