I Love Having Virat At The Other End While Batting: AB de Villiers
Aug 30, 2017 at 12:44 PM
As AB de Villiers is gearing up to bring his international career on track after making himself available for selection in all three formats, the South Africa star has given an insight on his batting tactics and his camaraderie and the mutual admiration for his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Virat Kohli.
One of the most devastating batsmen of this generation, de Villiers is fondly called Mr 360 for his ability to hit all around the park. But despite playing a wide range of shots, the former Proteas skipper refrained from admitting that he changed grips like Virat Kohli did after his poor performance in England in 2014.
“I never changed grips. I have heard Virat Kohli talk about changing the grips when playing those shots. Many times, I have struggled to pick bowlers, but the trick is, you need to put your chest out and show that you are picking him. Saeed Ajmal has been difficult to pick. A batsman should back his defence. You can have all the shots in your book but if the bowler gets on top, you will be dismissed unless you have a solid defence,” de Villiers said who was in Chennai as global brand ambassador of MRF for a product launch.
Earlier this year, Kohli had revealed he had made some fine adjustments to his technique after the batting debacle during the England series.
“Bat speed has been natural to me more towards on-side as I have been a bottom hand player. I worked on my off-side play a lot more. I used to hit past covers a lot and straight but the shot I hit past point is helping me a lot now. It’s a minor adjustment to my grip,” Kohli had told Nasser Hussain in an interview on bcci.tv.
De Villiers further expressed his admiration for the India captain who had called the former the best player in the world.
“I love having Virat at the other end while batting. Our partnership in the match against Gujarat Lions in IPL 2016 was special. We are different players. Virat, in his own way, is the best player I have ever seen. He says that quite a lot about me, which I don’t believe is true. We have great respect for each other and for the game,” said de Villiers.