AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli
However, their relationship did not begin with the kind of admiration that defines it today, with the former South Africa captain admitting that his first impression of the Indian batting great was that he was “arrogant and cocky”. “Yeah, and I think he’ll agree with that,” he said. The Indian batter’s confidence was evident from an early age, although it could sometimes be misunderstood by those around him, according to De Villiers. He came across as overly confident,” he said.
Virat Kohli ‘s close friendship with AB de Villiers is one of the most enduring bonds in cricket , strengthened over the years by their time together at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The South African great clarified that what he had initially interpreted as arrogance was largely Kohli’s extraordinary self-belief. “Just a high level of confidence and he’s always played his cricket that way. It gets misinterpreted sometimes. In my case, that’s what happened as well. De Villiers added that his description of Kohli was partly tongue-in-cheek, while acknowledging that the former India captain possessed immense confidence during his formative years in international cricket. The former South Africa captain felt Kohli’s early years were shaped by a strong desire to prove himself, but that instinct softened as he established himself among the leading players in world cricket.
And that also changed that sense of having to be overly confident with people, but that changed,” he said. “That faded away as he grew older and as he became more balanced as a person and as a cricket player. I think he had a lot to prove when he was younger, and that faded away.