AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli share a very healthy camaraderie.
RCB bought De Villiers in the IPL 2011 auction for $1.1 million after Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) had released him. He never left the franchise after that and played till the last season, before announcing his retirement.
During his RCB tenure, De Villiers built a strong friendship with Kohli, who led the side from 2013-2021. The duo was involved in some memorable partnerships and developed a mutual respect for each other.
Last year, Kohli has revealed that he sought advice from AB de Villiers on his batting and the South African legend opened up about it during an episode of RCB Podcast.
“I would never give him tips unless he asked for it, which he did in that instance. I follow the game quite a bit. I enjoy sharing everything I know about the game whether it works for the guy or not, because I'm a strong believer in that got to work through your own battles, which he will and which he has done. We all do that,” said De Villiers.
“But from time to time, there's something small which keeps happening in your game. The stuff that I told him was very basic. To keep your eye on the ball. It looked like he was very fidgety; almost trying to hit the ball out of bowler's hand. I said just slow down a bit, let the ball come to you. Remember, you're good enough, you don't have to hit the ball off the deck. Just let it come to you.”
The former Proteas batter further said that he was also given inputs from players like Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher during his international career.
“So, stuff like that. Sometimes it's just one little thing that someone says and you say, ''ah, I forgot about that.' So maybe just focus on that and forget about the rest. I felt a lot of moments like that in my career wher Kallis would pick something up or Boucher would say something,” he said.