AB de Villiers says Virat Kohli is a fantastic captain and his teammates follow him

Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers was all praises for India skipper Virat Kohli and his leadership in the national side. Ever since he took over the reins from MS Dhoni, Kohli has had a lot of success as a captain in the Team India setup. Meanwhile, he’s also asserted his dominance as a cricketer, performing in every part of the world in all formats. The Proteas great also mentioned that he enjoyed his time as a player under Kohli’s captaincy and has closely seen him evolve as a batsman and as a leader.

Earlier this year, former England captain Mike Brearley had feared Kohli’s presence at the helm, saying his ‘articulacy, his charisma, his presence, his skill, his fierce thoughtfulness could become tyrannical, a bit autocratic.’ Others have also criticized Virat’s role as a captain, especially for the constant changes he makes to his side prior to a game, and believed he doesn’t give players time to settle into the XI. De Villiers, however, backed his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate, saying ‘he leads by example and his teammates follow him’.

Speaking at an event in New Delhi, AB de Villiers said, “Virat is a fantastic captain. We’re friends, I have seen him grow from strength to strength in the last few years and there’s no doubt that he’s a great captain. I really enjoyed playing under him, he leads by example and his teammates follow him. So, I’m expecting a lot of success for him and his team in the next few years.”

Virat and I share a lifelong friendship: AB de Villiers

The South African was also very sure about the quality of India’s batsmen despite their failure in England during the recently-concluded five-match Test series. Barring Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, the others struggled to make an impact as India were humiliated in the 5-match series 1-4. But AB said the scoreline didn’t reflect the reality of India’s performance, and went on to back their batting line-up, saying it consists of a number of match-winners.

“There is nothing wrong with the Indian batting line-up, believe me. They are all match-winners, they are incredibly talented, gifted players. Whether they are backed by people above them or by the media, that’s a different beast but there’s no doubt they can all be no.1 players in the world,” de Villiers was quoted as saying to India Today.

The friendship between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers is also well documented, which the latter touched upon briefly during the event. “I have a very healthy friendship with Virat. We don’t talk about it but there’s a really good competitiveness between us where both of us want to be better than each other and that helps. It is certainly a lifelong friendship and there have been some great moments between us on the field,” he said.

Virat Kohli recently brought up his 36th ODI ton against the Windies in the first of the five-match series. He is currently 81 away from breaking into the select club of batsmen with more than 10,000 ODI runs.

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