I would have liked to play against Virat Kohli, says Alan Donald

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are best mates outside cricket. However, they both are the best in the world as well. They do not need an introduction as their profiles tell you every bit about their talent. Sometimes numbers do lie about a particular player but in these cases, they are absolutely spot on.

In addition, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli are leading the charts with most runs in this series. A series where batsmen are struggling to get going, these two men are seemingly scoring runs for fun. Kohli most recently scored a huge century while every other Indian batsman failed to make their mark. He has scored 191 runs in the series at an average of 47 while AB de Villiers has scored 200 runs at an average of 50.

While both players have made a name for themselves, Allan Donald has come out in praise of both batsmen. Speaking to the media, the former South African pacer went ahead and mentioned that he’d love to have a crack at Virat Kohli.

On who he would rather bowl at

Alan Donald was a fearsome bowler in his time and is a cricketing legend. He bowled to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. And when that bowler is a fan of yours, then you are something special. Donald was praising the duo and said that he would have loved to play against Kohli. He pointed out the vulnerability of Kohli outside off stump.

“I’d say Kohli because I feel from a red ball perspective if you bowl fuller and get tight on that fourth stump outside off stump, you can get him out. You can get more dots than you would with AB, which can frustrate him. He’s been caught behind before on that kind of ball and if his first 20 balls are there, he tends to find it hard to leave,” said Donald while talking to Sports24.

On planning against the duo

Alan Donald compared Virat to AB and said that the latter wants to dominate every ball unlike Virat and is onto you in a flash. He recalled the incident from the first Test match when ABD counter attacked Bhuvaneshwar Kumar when he was bowling at his best. Donald also mentioned that it is hard to plan against these batsmen because they hit good balls to the fence.

“I have a standing joke that if you’re sitting in a team meeting planning to get guys like that out, good luck to you. They’re obviously freakish players and the only other player I can remember who’s similar is Ricky Ponting, although he didn’t have De Villiers’ flair.

“I had the pleasure of watching both make hundreds in the IPL (Indian Premier League) – I’d never seen hitting like that. But with AB, whatever you plan technically in a team meeting goes out the window. He’s a player you can’t plan for because he has so many options. The problem with them is they’re technically very organized and hit good balls for four,” Donald further added.