De Villiers had shared unconfirmed information about Virat and Anushka having second child.
Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers issued a fresh apology to India cricketer Virat Kohli and his family, for divulging sensitive information about them. Notably, Kohli, who had withdrawn from the first two Tests against England, has been ruled out from the remainder of the three Tests as well.
The speculations were right as Kohli continued to remain away from cricketing action, thereby making himself unavailable for the final three matches of the five-Test series against England due to personal reasons.
Unfortunately, AB de Villiers, close friend of Kohli, had revealed that the former India captain and his wife Anushka Sharma were expecting their second child and hence he was not available for the first two Tests.
"All I know is he is fine. He is spending a bit of time with his family, that is the reason he is missing the first two Test matches. I am not going to confirm anything else. I cannot wait to see him back. He is fine, he is doing well.
Yes, his second child is on the way. Yes, it's family time and things are important to him. If you are not true and genuine to yourself, you lose track of what you are here for. I think most people's priority is family. You can't judge Virat for that,” AB de Villiers had said.
De Villiers retracted his statement soon and said that the information he had received and shared on YouTube was false.
Now, further speaking on Kohli's absence during his YouTube show on Saturday, De Villiers apologized to his friend and his family for his "blunder" in his previous show and called for privacy on the matter.
"My friend Virat Kohli is still not available. I cry out to everybody to give him the privacy that he deserves. Family comes first. No one knows what exactly is going on. I am asking all of us to respect that. I did a bit of a blunder in my previous show and I apologize to the Kohli family for that," he said.
"Just not nice. I shared information that was not confirmed at all so. I am begging everyone out there to respect him and his family and his private time. Hopefully, we will see Virat back, happy and scoring runs. Like he always does,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.