‘Before I knew him I didn’t really like him a lot’ – AB de Villiers makes surprising Virat Kohli admission

AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. (Source – Getty Images)

Virat Kohli shocked the world when he announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday, May 12, via an Instagram post. The cricket fraternity is still coming to terms with the fact that one of the finest batters of all time will no longer don the whites for India.

Kohli will go down in history as a phenomenal batter in the longest format, who didn’t like to allow the bowlers to take the upper-hand even when they had their tails up. The 36-year-old finished with 9230 runs from 123 Tests at an average of 46.85. He also smashed 31 fifties and 30 centuries during his illustrious Test career.

AB de Villiers spent 11 seasons at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), playing alongside Kohli. The two batters formed great camaraderie, which has only gone from strength to strength over the years. However, the South African legend revealed that he didn’t like Kohli too much before he knew him personally. This feeling stemmed from their similarities, particularly their fiercely competitive demeanour. He admitted that Kohli was a tough opponent and a “pain to play against” because of how intense he was as a competitor.

“Virat is like one of my cricketing brothers, someone I really grew fond of when I got to know him better. He’s an absolute pain to play against, so before I knew him I didn’t really like him a lot because he was so good and so competitive, very similar to me with that competitive nature,” de Villiers said in a video on ICC.

“We really like winning and we like to pull our weight within the team environment and if anything threatens that it usually brings out aggressive body language and one that will attack back and that’s exactly what Virat was like playing against,” he added.

However, the former South African captain said that once he got to know Kohli during his time at RCB, their friendship blossomed into brotherhood. de Villiers also mentioned how well they batted as a pair. During their time together, Kohli and de Villiers stitched some epic partnerships. They hold the record for the most runs scored as a pair in IPL history, amassing 3123 runs from 76 matches, including 10 century partnerships.

“Then I got to know him at RCB, I got to know him a lot better. We became family friends, became brothers and also became great partners at the wicket when we played together, really understood each other out there and I probably enjoyed every second of playing with him,” de Villiers said.

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