AB De Villiers Hails Virat Kohli's Leadership For Allowing Youngsters To Flourish And Play Fearlessly

Indian captain Virat Kohli’s fellow Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate, AB De Villiers, has been in awe of the Indian’s leadership that has allowed the youngsters to flourish in the concluded Test series against England. India beat England in the four-match Test series by 3-1 to book their spot in the ICC World Test Championship’s final and climb to the top of the Test rankings. AB De Villiers hailed Virat Kohli even as his performances with the bat have been underwhelming.

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The likes of Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant, and Washington Sundar have been instrumental in India’s victory against England as they have put up match-defining performances. Axar Patel replaced Ravindra Jadeja in the Test series and took fifers in all three Tests, proving to be a glorious start to Test cricket. Furthermore, Rishabh Pant crafted game-changing knocks in the second and final Test to put India in a dominant position.

While Pant’s batting skills proved to be a plus point, the 23-year old’s keeping skills have also upgraded, keeping expertly to Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel. Finally, Washington Sundar carried his burgeoning batting form with the bat from Australia till here by scoring 96 runs in the final Test. He shared a century stand with Rishabh Pant in the final Test to rescue the hosts from a precarious position. Thus, all of them made telling contributions to the series win.

AB De Villiers, who has already played under Virat Kohli in IPL and continues to do so, took to his official Twitter handle and stated that the 32-year old is a special leader who fosters the youngsters’ growth via his passion and energy. The former South African captain remarked that such captains are hard to come by.

Below is AB De Villiers’ tweet:

Kohli’s leadership this test match allowed young guns like Axar, Rishabh and Washie to play with freedom and dominate the game. It takes a special leader to elevate other players around them through body language and passion when their personal performance has been down.

— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) March 6, 2021