Former South African cricket team skipper AB de Villiers has revealed a scary part about Indian captain Virat Kohli. AB de Villiers, who is fondly called Mr 360 for his all-around batting skills, feels Virat Kohli has ‘learnt from mistakes’ in the last few years as a captain.
Heaping praises on his RCB teammate, AB de Villiers said, “He is a really good captain and getting better. That is the scary part. As a batsman, he has got areas where he can improve and that is also scary, so all in all, he is in a great place in his career,” he said.
The stylish right-handed batsman also backed the Indian side to win the series in Australia when they depart for Down Under for a four-Test series in November.
“India have a very good chance. They came to South Africa and probably played better cricket in the three-Test series. They lost in England but once again that first Test was on a knife’s edge and could have gone either way which would have changed the complexion of the series. It (Aussie tour) will be challenging but they have the ability to win there,” said de Villiers.
The 34-year-old batsman, who announced his retirement from international cricket in May, also said, “(Jasprit) Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar (Kumar) weren’t ready in England so they (India) can get all the fast bowlers ready. They have, if not the best, one of the best bowling attacks in the world and we know what the batting unit is capable of. They have got to take the opportunities against Australia.”
AB de Villiers has played 114 Tests for South Africa and scored 8765 runs with the help of 22 centuries and 46 fifties.
“If you slip in the first Test there, it becomes a snowball and it’ll be similar to what happened in England. They slipped in South Africa, and in England it sort of snowballed down. They’ve got to start well in Australia, (then) a lot of things get easier,” said de Villiers, who holds the record of scoring the fastest ODI century off 31 balls.
de Villiers added, “They just did not start well (in England) that is all. They competed and played really good cricket. They had the opportunities and when you are touring away from home, you have to take them.”