Virat Kohli is broader than just a cricket player: AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers opened up his relationship with Virat Kohli, who he said was “far broader than a cricket player.” The former fast bowler from Zimbabwe who is now a commentator de Villiers, speaking to Pommie Mbangwa, said that his conversations with his long-time team-mate at the IPL’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kohli goes far beyond cricket.
“It was clearly more than friendship when it comes to the IPL in India,” de Villiers said, when asked who are his best friends in cricket. de Villiers answerd, “Virat definitely is the one, we talk all year round, not just during the ipl matches, so it’s not the same as just the IPL or cricketing friendship.”
Besides that, he also mentioned to the media, “from a South African point of view, I’ve been in touch with Morne Morkel, Faf and Dale. Dale and I have come together a long way as well, since we were kids in school and in high school, we’ve known each other. JP [Duminy] as well. When it comes to cricket, there’s no real best friend, you just go out with one or two friends.”
De Villiers has revealed that he has intense conversations not only with Kohli but also with his wife, Anushka Sharma, the Bollywood actress.
He said during the interview, “He’s far broader than a cricket player.I think that after a while most people know there’s more to life than just cricket,”. According to him, “Initially, I think we’re all slipping into the bubble, but Virat has always been a thinker, he experiments with a lot of things, he likes to try on new stuff. He thinks a lot about life after life – what to come, the different religions, we’re talking about all these.”
de Villiers said, “we’re having really deep talks with his wife Anushka as well, which is great. We’re talking about kids and family. We’re waiting for the first little Kohli to come. It’s a nice friendship and we’re still finding a way to talk about cricket too, but 90 percent of the time we’re talking about other things. It’s fun and in the midst of a very intense IPL tournament.”
When he was being asked between Kohli and Steven Smith, who is the better batsman, de Villiers dismissed the question smartly, comparing the two to a pair of tennis legends.
“This is hard to choose, but Virat is certainly the more talented and natural ball-striker, there is no question about that” de Villiers pointed out. “I would say Virat’s more like Federer, and Smith is like Nadal in tennis terms. Smith’s mentally very strong and works out how to score runs – he doesn’t look natural, but he was able writing records and doing great stuff at the edge. Mentally I think Smith is one of the greatest I’ve ever seen. Virat has scored runs around the world as well, winning games under stress.
And asked to compare his predecessor Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar as best batsman of India’s superstar, de Villiers gave the younger man the edge in one department – chasing goals.
de Villiers pointed out, “For both of us, Sachin is a role model – the way he stood out in his period, the things he achieved and with the grace he did all that is a perfect example for all,” he added, “In my opinion, i think Virat will say he is setting the standard for us to meet too.”
