"His friendship is too important to me" - AB de Villiers on Virat Kohli withdrawing from first two India vs England Tests

Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers recently said he wouldn't tell anyone the reason for Virat Kohli withdrawing from the first two Tests between India and England even if he knew it.

De Villiers said that at the moment even he didn't know what 'personal reasons' had made Kohli opt out of the first two Tests. He expressed hope that everything was fine with the star Indian cricketer and added that he would get in touch with him soon.

In a video on his YouTube channel, here's what AB de Villiers had to say about Virat Kohli (1:33):

"No one knows what has happened yet. I am sure we will get to know soon. If Virat talks about personal reasons, there must be a very good reason for that. Maybe he is also tired. He has been playing a lot of cricket. Could be family stuff. I will find out soon but I won't tell you guys. His friendship is too important to me."

De Villiers and Kohli have great camaraderie, after having spent several years sharing the same dressing room at the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Indian head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma are confident about other players stepping up in Kohli's absence, with the first Test set to begin on Thursday in Hyderabad.

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Bazball will work in Indian conditions: AB de Villiers

While many in the cricketing fraternity feel England's Bazball ideology may not work in Indian conditions, AB de Villers believes otherwise. The former cricketer suggested that perhaps the best way to score runs on turning tracks in India is to counterattack and not look to just survive.

On this, he stated (3:18):

"I feel Bazball, or any attacking brand of cricket in Indian conditions will work very well. It can work in any rough conditions. In the Newlands with the ball moving around, who scored? Aiden Markram and a few Indian batters who took the attack to the opposition. Players who are conservative generally struggle."

AB de Villiers also recalled his experience of playing Test cricket in India and added (3:41):

"I remember an innings in Kanpur where spin was introduced in the 9th over of the innings in Day 1. That's very unheard of. But I learned pretty quickly there that you need to be attacking. You don't tend to get into difficult situations more often than when you just try to survive."

AB de Villiers was probably referring to his marathon knock of 297 balls in Delhi against India back in 2015, where he scored just 43 runs and looked to play for a draw. However, the hosts eventually won the game, making De Villiers realize that batters needed to be more aggressive in those conditions.