'Unaffected' Kallis says never played cricket to make records

Retired South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis has said that he had never played cricket for the sake of making records or statistics as they have never been important to him.

Till his retirement, Kallis, whose 13, 289 runs, 292 wickets and 200 catches through an 18-year Test career ignited debate over whether he was the greatest all-rounder in the history of the game, was setting benchmarks.

According to Sport24, following his 166th and final Test on Monday against India, which ended with a victory for the hosts, Kallis said that his momentous personal numbers does not affect him as he had always played cricket for his team rather than himself.

An introverted character by his own admission, Kallis rarely felt the need to speak out and set that record straight, comfortable in his own mind with what he was doing, saying that he took a little bit of flak over the years and made decisions that he thought was for the best of the team.

The report mentioned that Kallis' quiet way has become as much a part of his story as his pages and pages of runs, wickets and catches and his dry sense of humour also was usually saved for his closest friends and teammates.

Kallis is the only player to make more than 10, 000 Test runs and take more than 250 wickets and his 200 catches are second behind only Indian legend Rahul Dravid, the report added.