AB de Villiers hails 'special leader' Virat Kohli after he guides India to thumping win over England

AB de Villiers has lavished praise on Virat Kohli’s leadership after the India skipper guided his team to a thumping win over England in the fourth Test on Saturday. The Kohli-led side thrashed England by an innings and 25 runs in the game to win the four-match Test series 3-1. With the win, India also secured their place in the final of the ICC World Test Championship.

Needing 160 to make India bat again, England’s batsmen once again kneeled down in front of India’s spinners as the visitors were all out for just 135. At one stage, it looked like they would not even touch the 100-run mark after being reduced to 65 for 6. However, Dan Lawrence’s fighting knock of 50 runs gave some respectability to the total.

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel claimed 5 for 48, his fourth five-wicket haul of the series, while senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up 5 for 47 as England lost all 10 wickets in an innings to spin for the third successive Test. England were bundled inside 55 overs as it took India just over a session to bowl out the beleaguered hosts.

AB de Villiers praises Virat Kohli’s leadership:

Soon after the game ended, AB de Villiers took to Twitter to hail Virat Kohli’s leadership. The Royal Challengers Bangalore star was all praise for his IPL skipper’s body language in the fourth Test. De Villiers opined that Kohli’s leadership helped youngsters like Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Rishabh Pant to play without any pressure.

De Villiers also pointed out how Kohli elevated other players while his own performance in the Test as well as the series was not up to the mark. Kohli was out for a duck in the fourth game and managed just 172 runs in the series.

“Kohli’s leadership this test match allowed young guns like Axar, Rishabh and Washie to play with freedom and dominate the game. It takes a special leader to elevate other players around them through body language and passion when their personal performance has been down,” wrote de Villiers.

Kohli will be desperate to get back to his usual best when India and England lock horns against each other in the upcoming limited-overs series. They will play five T20Is, starting from March 12 before taking on each other in an ODI series.