AB De Villiers claims he enjoyed Virat Kohli's comments against Sunil Gavaskar

Former RCB batter Ab de Villiers has claimed that he enjoyed Virat Kohli's comments towards Sunil Gavaskar in the context of the former's strike rate. 

In IPL 2024, Virat Kohli's striking rate and his approach were heavily questioned by opposing fans and expert pundits on air. The former RCB captain had also responded to the criticism he received from the former cricket players who currently speak about the game from the commentary box. 

What happened between Virat Kohli and Sunil Gavaskar? 

Virat Kohli lashed out by saying that he isn't obliged to hear what the commentators say because they haven't been in the situations themselves. He has been doing the same thing for the last 15 years and he just focuses on helping his team win and has less focus on his strike rates or his personal milestones. 

His comments rattled former World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskar, who stated that Kohli shouldn't respond to his criticism if he doesn't care. Commentators have no personal agenda against any cricketer, it's just that they speak what they see. It had created a massive stir on social media with people choosing sides but most of them supported Virat Kohli. 

What did AB de Villiers say? 

While speaking to Jio Cinema recently, AB de Villiers was asked about how he had felt after Virat Kohli slammed Sunil Gavaskar for his comments. The South African, without any hesitation, stated "Yeah, I enjoyed that." 

AB de Villiers was not at all fond of Virat Kohli catching so much criticism despite being a role model and a cricketing hero of the country. He had said the same thing on one of his YouTube videos as well.

"I thought it was... really bad for someone like that for a hero and a role model of the country to get so much criticism around that. But the way I know him, I just knew and that's exactly what I mentioned on my show." - de Villiers said via Jio Cinema. 

de Villiers admits Virat Kohli acts differently when criticized 

AB de Villiers went on to further add that Virat Kohli becomes a different beast when he catches criticism for his gameplay. The former Mr. 360, admitted from his observation that he used to tell his players that they should not utter even a single word from their mouths against Kohli. 

Kohli feeds off the criticism and it helps him get into the zone so it's better to not instigate him to score something big. It comes from a player who has spent a lot of years in the dressing room with the Indian batter.  

"I said, guys, you have no idea what happens to this guy when he catches criticism. The many years I've played against him, I used to tell the players in the team room, you do not say one word to Virat on the pitch because he will come out and he will score a big 100 if you try and chirp him." - AB de Villiers concluded.