IPL 2016: AB de Villiers showers praise on skipper Virat Kohli

The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, Virat Kohli is in the form of his life, having already scored 541 runs in 8 innings, including 2 centuries at a phenomenal average of 90.16. He is the most prominent contender for the Orange Cap in this year’s Indian Premier League.

RCB is currently placed 7th in the points table and need to win 5 out of their remaining 6 games to make it to the playoffs. In spite of world-class power-hitters in the team, the bowling has failed on numerous occasions.

The 27-year-old batsman is leading his team from the front, making huge chases look rather easy. His calm and composed attitude in pressure situations, and the calculated risks he takes have mostly worked in favour of the team. Kohli is currently the best chaser in the world, with an average of 44.85 in T20’s.

In an interview with The Caravan Magazine, AB de Villiers praised Virat’s batting skills and his ability to find boundaries in pressure situations with pure cricketing shots, as reported by The Hindu.

“I have watched him closely during the past few weeks, often from the non-striker’s end, and I have marvelled at his confidence, his special ability to hit the ball into gaps in the field and his talent for pacing an innings to perfection.”

Virat scored his highest T20 score of 108 not out in the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Rising Pune Supergiants on 7 May in Bangalore. In a must win game for RCB, he played the perfect captain's knock to take his team home. RCB won that match by 7 wickets, keeping their chances to make it to the play-offs alive.

Talking about Virat’s best T20 knock, AB said,

“In the early stages, he was not afraid to play defensively against any good ball and he was not flustered as the required run-rate started to rise because he knew that, when it mattered, he would hit the boundaries and the sixes that would take us to our target of 192 in 20 overs.”

He also spoke about the importance of a good start by the openers, and how KL Rahul and Watson’s quick knocks helped ease the pressure off Virat and allowed him to play his natural game. KL Rahul scored 38 (35) and Watson fired a quick 36 from 13 balls, including 5 fours and 2 sixes.

“With him and K. Rahul opening our innings, we scored only 10 runs from the first three overs but there was no panic. In the fourth over, after Rahul had scored a six from the second ball, Virat faced the fourth ball, stepped away to leg and simply lifted the ball over the boundary at extra cover.

“It was an exquisite stroke, performed by a player full of confidence and operating at the peak of his powers.”

Virat’s composure in pressure situations wins games

If Virat bats till the end, RCB win most of their games. The team is quite dependent on their captain’s consistency, although this may be seen as an added pressure on him, Virat has always said that he loves challenges. His zealous attitude always gets him to perform better and win.

The South African batsman concluded by saying that Kohli’s composure and calculative mindset allow him to stay calm and analyse situations better, and that makes him a match winner.

“He took two boundaries in the ninth over, one driven through cover and one whipped to midwicket, and two more from Bhatia in the 11th, another driven past cover and another flicked into the leg-side.

“He was content to take singles and twos while Shane Watson was thriving, but Virat’s cultured assault resumed when he hit two 6s and a boundary in the 18th over.After two more sixes in the 19th, he hit the winning boundary off the third ball of the last over, finishing unbeaten on 108 from 58 balls.”

AB ended by saying Virat is a class apart, and one of the best in the game at present.

“Virat Kohli is pure class, world class.”