I am thinking 600-plus runs from Virat Kohli this year in IPL: AB de Villiers

Former South Africa and RCB cricketer AB de Villiers is expecting for a vintage Virat Kohli season in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). According to him, the former RCB skipper will score more than 600 runs in the 15th edition of the cash-rich league. Interestingly, Kohli looked in good touch in the opening game against PBKS scoring an unbeaten 41 off 29 deliveries.

RCB is missing De Villiers in this season after the latter announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The franchise has tried to fill in his position, at the top of the order though, by picking Faf du Plessis and have also named him their skipper.

Meanwhile, RCB lost their opening game to PBKS despite posting 205 runs on the board batting first. However, with Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood expected to join soon, one can expect for the team to only improve as the season progresses.

ABD has expectations from the youngsters in the team

Coming back to AB de Villiers’ prediction, he is excited to watch Virat Kohli the batter unleash in IPL 2022. The latter has been going through a tough phase in his career as he has not been able to score with the bat in the recent past. But AB de Villiers believes that the former RCB skipper will surpass the 600-run mark this year

“Everyone knows about Faf du Plessis coming in as captain. I think the most exciting thing for me is Virat not being captain and releasing a bit of the pressure, really just going out there and freeing up. I am expecting a very big season from Virat. I am thinking 600+ runs from him this year,” he said while speaking to VUSport Official.

He also shared his expectations from the players at the RCB camp, mainly young players on the team, to develop themselves this season with the franchise. “He (Kohli) will be in Faf’s ear, but Faf is also very experienced as well. He has got a good cricketing training on him and he would allow Virat and some of the youngsters to just go and free up, and just enjoy the IPL.

“I don’t know what to expect (from RCB) but I expect some individuals to really rise in this IPL from the RCB setup,” De Villiers added. Planning a comeback from the loss in their first game, RCB will face KKR today at the Dr. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and the match will begin at 7:30 PM IST.