AB de Villiers, a former South African cricket player, revealed that his initial aversion to Virat Kohli turned into a close friendship after their teammate in teammates Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) In the Indian Premier League (IPL). The revelation came after Kohli’s announcement of the retirement Test cricket On May 12, 2025, concluding his 14 -year -old career which began in 2011.De Villiers explained that their similar competitive nature had initially created a barrier between them when they played as adversaries.“Virat is like one of my cricket brothers, someone I really liked when I got to know him better. It is an absolute pain against which to play, so before I know him, I did not really like him because he was so good and so competitive, very similar to me with this competitive nature,” said Villiers.De Villiers also developed their competitive nature and how it affected their relationship on the ground.
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Quiz: Who is this IPL player?“We really like to win and we like to get our weight in the team’s environment and if something threatens, it generally brings out an aggressive body language that will attack and that is exactly what Virat was against which to play,” said Villiers.Their relationship has evolved considerably after having become teammates at the RCB.
“Then, I got to know him at the RCB, I got to know him much better. We have become family friends, have become brothers and have also become big partners at the counter when we played together, we really understood and I probably appreciated each second to play with him,” added Villiers.De Villiers joined RCB in 2011 after his visit with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and played for the franchise for 11 seasons until his retirement after the IPL 2021 season.The partnership between Kohli and de Villiers turned out to be one of the most efficient in the history of IPL. They hold the highest points record marked in pair, accumulating 3,123 points of 76 games, including 10 centuries.
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