BY SUNIT JANGIR
The camaraderie between the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his Royal Challengers Bangalore's teammate AB de Villiers is not a hidden secret now. Both have been involved in so many great partnerships while playing for the RCB in Indian Premier League and also both share a unique bond with each other.##
De Villiers during a candid interview with Gaurav Kapur on his Youtube show ‘Breakfast with Champions’ opened up on his friendship with batting sensation Virat Kohli while revealing some interesting stories about their off-the-field chemistry. He revealed that the Indian skipper always treat his family and kids well despite disturbing him a lot.##
“We are neighbours. If it wasn’t for the mosquitoes here, we would’ve left our doors open and probably would’ve shared a big room. Anushka’s here all the time, my family is there, the kids are running around. The kids were knocking on his door, early in the morning waking him up. He would let them in and would have coffee together. They were so good with the kids. We spent hours in the pool together, everyone just jumping and diving, and they’re so chilled," de Villiers said.##
It is the bond between him and Kohli that made de Villiers call his RCB teammate a ‘ridiculous man’ only because Virat Kohli gifts him stuff whenever he (de Villiers) complains about a thing or two and said that he looks after everyone around him.##
“I’m scared of saying anything to him now because. If I say like, “Oh, I like your shoes.” The next minute he organizes me those shoes. I’m like, “Virat, just stop it”. He looks after everyone. I was like, “My phone is flat again.” “Oh, you need a power bank.” There you go. Now it’s mine. He’s ridiculous, man. I told him I like coffee the other day. Now I’m getting an espresso machine- he’s ordered on Amazon. It’s being delivered tomorrow,” de Villiers added.##
It has been more than a year since the South African star retired from international cricket at the age of 34 and everyone was left unanswered why he stopped playing at international level so early. Well, the 35-year-old have some plans of playing international cricket as he said that he might return to the international circuit and participate in the 2023 World Cup if MS Dhoni was still around.##
“How old will I be (in 2023)? 39! I’ll come back if MS is still around (laughs). If I’m still good enough, who knows eh? I was keen to play the World Cup (2019) but I retired, so it was a very sensitive situation. For the last 3 years of my career, I was labelled as a guy who was picking and choosing when I was playing and when not,” De Villiers said during a candid interview with Gaurav Kapur on his Youtube show ‘Breakfast with Champions’.##
“So I got quite a lot of criticism from back home which also played a role in me retiring. And it was difficult for me to then go: ‘Hey, but I’ll still play the World Cup’. You know, it’s the picking and choosing thing again. And it’s quite arrogant to do something like that. But as they say, you can’t have your bread buttered on both sides,” added de Villiers. ##
AB de Villiers, famously known as MR. 360 degree took retirement last year after playing his last Test match against Australia at the home soil. Though it was a sudden decision de Villiers said that there were numerous reasons which motivated him to take this decision.##
“I’ve always been about the team. It’s never been about myself. But I found myself in a position where I had to make a decision where it’s going to look like I’m thinking about just myself. There’s a lot of reasons I had to move on. There’s a lot of things that played a role. Family is definitely a big part of it. The longevity of, like, I mean I’ve played for 15 years. I was just tired of the whole international scene. It’s quite busy, very stressful. The mental games, the doubts you have as a person, as a player all the time, it wears you down. And being captain of the Proteas for a long time also took its toll you know.”##
“And then there are a few deeper issues that might have to be discussed when I’m 50 one day (laughs). There’s a part of me that’ll always miss it. I mean, I had so much fun. It’s everything that goes with it. I wish I could push on longer but like I said at the start I had a great run and more dreams came true than I could ever imagine. And there was lots of heartbreaks as well along the way. And that’s the great ride that we all go through,” said AB de Villiers. ##
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