AB de Villiers recalled how Kohli was crucified for his strike rate last IPL.
Legendary Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) player AB de Villiers ruthlessly responded to Virat Kohli's detractors on Monday by bringing up old quotes from Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar.
Following Kohli's explosive 62-run innings against the Chennai Super Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which helped RCB win by two runs, go to the top of the points table, and secure a spot in the IPL 2025 playoffs, De Villiers made his remark.
Kohli received a lot of flak for his T20 strike rate at the IPL last year. The RCB player received criticism from former India cricketer Sehwag for recording the joint-slowest century in IPL history.
In an interview with Cricbuzz, Sehwag criticized Kohli for his error, stating that his strike rate should have increased after hitting the 50-run barrier in 39 balls. This was his eighth career IPL century, which he achieved en route to an undefeated 113 against the Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.
Regarding Gavaskar's strike rate, Kohli and the Indian batting great had a well-documented back-and-forth.
De Villiers responded to those who questioned Kohli's strike rate by posting a video on his Instagram account that included cutouts of Gavaskar and Sehwag's remarks. Shortly after Kohli regained the Orange Cap with his seventh half-century of the season, he directed his remarks towards the media.
"Virat is always there. He is Mr. Safety for RCB. When he is there, you don't have to fear. Never fear when Virat is near. That is the story. Nothing has ever changed, and what I want to tell all of you media people, I haven't forgotten. I have the brain of an elephant. To all my journalist friends out there, I love you guys. But remember when you said Virat bats too slow, right? Virat is there batting at almost a 200 strike rate last night. Eat that," De Villiers stated on his Instagram.
As for IPL 2025, Virat Kohli holds the Orange Cap with 505 runs in 11 games for RCB. He has a strike-rate of 143.47 and has scored 7 fifties thus far.