There is no hiding the fact that Indian skipper Virat Kohli is going through one of those rare phases in his career where he is struggling to get runs under his belt.  Even off the field, Virat has found himself being criticised for his captaincy that witnessed two successive clean sweep losses in New Zealand. However, former England captain and Kohli’s former Royal Challenger Bangalore (RCB) teammate Kevin Pietersen has backed the Indian skipper in his tough time.

The 39-year-old Pietersen revealed that he knew during the early seasons of the Indian Premier League that Kohli was in fact “destined for greatness”. Notably, the two had played together for RCB before Pietersen went on to play for other franchises.

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Since then, Kohli has gone to become one of the best batsmen in modern-day cricket with over 21,000 international runs and as many as 70 centuries.

“Sitting on the bus with Virat and batting with Virat, I knew he was destined for greatness because of how he approached the game and the way he learnt and the questions he asked,’ Pietersen told Betway as quoted by multiple sources including CricTracker.

“He was a chubby little fella back then and I still take the mickey out of him for it. But his determination to be the best player he could possibly be was evident. I remember I was winning a game for us against Rajasthan Royals and he ran me out. I gave him an absolute serve walking off the field,” he said.

“But you could see this was a youngster who was determined to get his team over the line,” he added.

“He wasn’t just going to give his wicket away and it didn’t matter how many Tests I’d played or how much more senior I was. We do have an incredible friendship, probably because of the way I treated him when he was a youngster and how I helped and guided him at the start of his career,” the South African-born England cricketer added.

It remains to be seen whether the forthcoming season of the Indian Premier League goes as per schedule amid coronavirus threat and the Indian government suspending all the visas till 15 April.