Fifty Thousand People In The Stadium Shouted 'ABD, ABD': Virat Kohli On AB de Villiers Being Cheered At Wankhede Stadium
Published - 27 Feb 2022, 03:06 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:05 AM
AB de Villiers enjoys amazing fandom in India despite being a South African cricket player. This was because of his association with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and his teammate at the franchise Virat Kohli revealed one such instance when De Villiers was cheered in India despite playing for Proteas.
His popularity is so much that Virat Kohli chose him as one of the foreign players who he would have liked to see playing for India. Kohli said that it wouldn’t be too difficult for De Villiers to make the transition as well, considering he is a fan favorite in India even when he was playing for South Africa.
“A guy like AB can contribute so much to the environment he is part of just by being himself. Amazing human being, extraordinary player. No one even needs to talk about his game. It is beyond belief the kind of things he does.
As much as I have been at the peak of playing international cricket, he just comes off a six-month layoff and bat in a manner that makes you feel like, ‘I’ve probably worked five years to get to this level and this guy comes after a 6-month layoff without playing any cricket and he is batting five levels above you’. It is phenomenal. I don’t think anyone has had the kind of ability AB has,” Kohli said on the RCB Podcast.
We Were Like, What The Hell Is Going On Here: Virat Kohli On AB De Villiers Being Cheered At The Wankhede Stadium
Both Kohli and De Villiers played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for more than a decade. AB de Villiers joined the franchise in 2011 and called time on his career ahead of the IPL 2022. Meanwhile, Kohli has stepped down as captain of the franchise but was retained by RCB before the IPL 2022 auction.
Kohli further said that he has been inspired by AB de Villiers a lot given how he has prioritized the right things in life. To emphasize the popularity that De Villiers enjoys in India, Kohli recalled the 2015 ODI at the Wankhede Stadium between India and South Africa, in which the visitors posted 438/4 with AB making 119 in 61 balls.
“It would be a very easy decision because he already gets support from the Indian crowd even when he played for South Africa against India. Fifty thousand people in the stadium shouted ‘ABD, ABD’. That can’t happen by chance, it is a very, very special thing to happen and it does not happen to anyone anywhere in the world. It is not like South African fans had come to Wankhede, they were Indian fans chanting his name. We were like, what the hell is going on here. But that is who he is, that is the magic of AB,” he said.
