‘Don’t tell me' - Virat Kohli recalls Anushka Sharma's first reaction on AB de Villiers' retirement

Former RCB captain Virat Kohli has opened up on how surprised his wife Anushka Sharma was after hearing about AB de Villier’s sudden retirement from all forms of cricket after last year. De Villiers had been a part of the RCB squad since the 2011 edition of the IPL and was a pillar of the side alongside Kohli. De Villiers, in fact, was definitely one of the legends of the IPL and his numbers in the cash-rich tournament do tell the story as well.

Kohli and de Villiers have held some exciting records together, including the highest partnership in IPL history of 229 runs against the now-defunct Gujarat Lions in 2016. The duo had striven for each other’s strengths, and de Villiers’s retirement was a massive loss not only for the RCB fans but for the whole cricketing fraternity as well. In a video recently posted by RCB, Kohli explained the way Anushka reacted to the South African prolific batter not being part of IPL again.

Anushka said ‘what’ and I showed her the voice note: Virat Kohli

Kohli recalled the day when he was driving when de Villiers had sent him a voice note of the decision to part ways with the game. He added that Anushka was with him while listening to the voice note from De Villiers and noted that she immediately was taken aback saying ‘What’ and “Don’t tell me”. Such has been de Villiers’ impact in the IPL, and it was almost impossible to find critics for the right-hander.

“It is very strange. I clearly remember when he decided to finally call it a day. He sent me a voice note. And I still remember we were coming back from the World Cup and were driving. I read the voice note, Anushka was with me and I just looked at her. She said ‘what’ and I showed her the voice note. After seeing it the first thing she told me was ‘Don’t tell me’. I could sense this from last (the) IPL,” Kohli said in the video.

It’s not just you fans, even @imVkohli misses @ABDeVilliers17 at RCB, and he opens up about their bond, the memories they’ve shared, and much more, on @KreditBee presents Bold Diaries.#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 #Mission2022 #RCB #ನಮ್ಮRCB pic.twitter.com/WXNfsqe3L6

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 29, 2022