AB de Villiers, the Royal Challengers Bangalore stalwart, has come out and said, that despite the poor results so far in the season, Virat Kohli has been fantastic as a skipper. 

AB de Villiers echoed the sentiment and was quoted as saying recently as, “Yeah, he has been fantastic. The true judge of a good captain is when you don’t perform well and still do a good job of leading a side. He’s come through with flying colours when it comes to that. He’s still putting in a lot of effort and energy into the team, into preparing us and keeping energy during training sessions" 

"That’s the characteristic of a true captain. He has been a fantastic captain for us and I know that he’s going to score a lot of runs for us in the rest of the tournament. Even if he doesn’t, I know he’ll be a good leader and the team will back him up.”

De Villiers also talked about what advice he usually gives to the youngsters that gets the blessed to talk with the great man. He said, “Most of my advice normally is, don’t over-think it, don’t complicate things, keep it simple. I have spoken to a lot of youngsters, a number of times and they look at me as If I am crazy because I tell them it is basic… ‘Keep it simple, keep your head still, watch the ball, don’t think too much’. And they are like ‘No, that can’t be it’. But, it is what it is all about – it is mastering the basics and the rest falls into the place.”

“I have even surprised myself throughout my career. It is never been a planned act, it has always been about the basics. Making sure that I do it exceptionally well, and the rest falls into place. The youngsters just think how I do that and stuff, but it is actually just the basics.”

(Inputs from Wisden India)