IPL 2019 | Virat Kohli captains RCB and India with skill and courage in equal measure, says AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers has stated that Virat Kohli has led RCB and India with unmatched skill and courage and his innings against KKR was a validation of that. De Villiers has further added that Kohli first accepted responsibility to anchor the innings, and then skillfully worked the ball into gaps.
Despite RCB missing AB de Villiers in the last game, Virat Kohli ensured that his absence was never felt as his side posted a par-plus total at Eden Gardens and eventually secured a 10-run victory. De Villiers missed the game after he took a bouncer on his head from Jasprit Bumrah in their encounter against Mumbai Indians, but in all probability, he will be a part of the team for the match against the derby rivals (CSK). As far as the batting is concerned, that will relieve Kohli’s burden massively. De Villiers also stated that the Indian skipper produced the perfect T20 innings against KKR in Kolkata.
"The tallest trees catch the most wind, runs an old Afrikaans saying. Virat has endured a challenging campaign, like all of us at RCB — although we're not dead yet in this tournament — but he produced the perfect T20 innings in Kolkata, batting from the first over until the last ball, scoring a masterful century, leading his team to victory," de Villiers wrote in his column for the Times of India.
"He initially accepted responsibility to anchor the innings, skillfully working the ball into gaps while Moeen Ali led the charge; and then, in the closing four overs, like a cricketing Vesuvius, Virat erupted in a blaze of dazzling stroke-play, crashing 45 runs from only 16 balls," the South African wrote.
Even after leading India in Test cricket for over four years, and all formats of the game for over a couple of years now, Kohli has still not been accorded as a great skipper thanks to some of the questionable calls that he has made over the years. It also reflected in RCB’s fortunes as the team have been weighed down by a barren 12 years in their IPL existence. However, AB stated that Kohli has led both RCB and India with skill and courage while reserving special praise for Kuldeep Yadav who has endured a tough IPL this time.
"He captains RCB and India from the front, with skill and courage in equal measure. As such, he lives and plays under intense scrutiny, with every act, decision and word dissected and debated by tens of millions. It is my privilege to watch him work, to watch him practice and plan, to watch him perform and, as a man and cricketer, he has my total admiration," the former South Africa captain wrote.
"In Indian cricket, and indeed world cricket, there are a few taller trees than the irrepressible Kohli, the superstar batsman and captain, and (Kuldeep) Yadav, the left-arm spin bowler who has made a wonderful impact across all three formats in recent years. Make no mistake, aged 24, Yadav is a proper champion. Armed with a quick wrist and great disguise, he's famously difficult to pick — very often, it's impossible to know which way the ball is going to turn. And he's not conservative: he's gutsy and brave, unafraid to give the ball flight in the quest for wickets, and I'm backing him to play a major role in India's forthcoming campaign to win the World Cup.”
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