‘AB always helped him’ – Fans react as Virat Kohli reveals AB de Villiers's key role behind his successful tour of England

AB de Villiers & Virat Kohli (Image credits: Twitter)

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are undoubtedly two of the all-time ace cricketers in the history of the game. The friendship between the two grew over the years and deepened when they both played for the same franchise in the Indian T20 League. Kohli and ABD formed a formidable batting pair for the Bangalore franchise and have become crowd favourites by crushing opponents with their batting heroics.

Whenever asked by the media, both of them share stories of their friendship with the public. Recently, in a podcast hosted by the Bangalore franchise, the former India captain was seen sharing a friendly incident with ABD in 2018 where the South African cricketer calmed down Kohli. The India star batter had endured a horrible time in England in 2014 as he had managed to score only 134 runs in 10 innings.

However, Kohli quickly bounced back and established himself as a great batter in the longer format. Between the tours of England in 2014 and 2018, he scored 15 centuries, including six double centuries and became the first batter in the history of the game to score double hundreds in four successive series.

More than 4 years after his batting heroics in England, Kohli has revealed how South Africa great motivated him before the series. Kohli said, "I spoke to AB De Villiers after I couldn't play County cricket in 2018 due to neck issue. I told him I'm feeling very jittery, AB told me 'it's not 2014 and you're not the same player. You'll be absolutely fine'. I became very calm after that".

Greats of Bangalore franchise

2016 was Bangalore's best year as they made it to the finals of the event, with plenty of exciting action from Kohli and ABD. Although Bangalore lost to Hyderabad in the final, Kohli and his team deserved the trophy. The Indian cricket stalwart was named the player of the tournament for that season after scoring 973 runs, the most runs by a player in a single season of the ITL. There were also masterclass innings by ABD as well, which included a record-breaking 229 run-partnership between him and his partner in crime, Kohli, against Gujarat.

De Villiers, who hung up his boots two years ago, will probably be part of the Bangalore franchise this season as a mentor. Meanwhile, former Bangalore captain Kohli will remain a player and will be expected to bring home the trophy this time.

This is how fans reacted to Virat Kohli's revelation:

AB-virat bond>>>>>>>fake media made bond.

— Action Kamen (@Action_kamen___) February 25, 2023

Bff's pic.twitter.com/qc07CcwuJV

— RAKS WALKER (@RAKSWALKER) February 25, 2023

One choker taking advice from another choker...🤣🤣

— Jack (@btwits45_87) February 25, 2023

How England expert called curtains on Virat carrier Ater 2014 nightmare. But they forget their own jor root is yet to score a century in Australia

— Prasun Jha (@jprasun21) February 25, 2023

RCB without AB is another Pbks

— ' (@staan_Mukesh) February 25, 2023

Ab Always Helped Him pic.twitter.com/BevlM7v3gs

— Prajwal (@Prajwal2742) February 25, 2023

ABD needs to have a chat with him again😭

— ' (@justabyst) February 25, 2023

ABD advice > County cricket

— mohit yadav (@itsMo_hit) February 25, 2023