×

AB de Villiers Heaps Praise on Virat Kohli: “Special Leader Who Elevates Other Players Through Passion When Personal Performances Are Down”

De Villiers claims Kohli's leadership allowed the young players of India like Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar to play with freedom.

Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers heaped huge praise on India captain Virat Kohli for his leadership abilities in the fourth Test against England. Kohli and Co. beat England by an innings and 25 runs to clinch the four-match series 3-1 on Saturday. With the win, Team India also sealed their place in the final of the World Test Championship against New Zealand which will be played on June 18.

De Villiers claims Kohli’s leadership allowed the young players of India like Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar to play with freedom.

“Kohli’s leadership this test match allowed young guns like Axar, Rishabh and Washie to play with freedom and dominate the game. It takes a special leader to elevate other players around them through body language and passion when their personal performance has been down,” de Villiers wrote.

Kohli himself is going through a rough patch with the bat as his last international century came in 2019. In the fourth Test against England, the Indian captain was dismissed on duck which was his 8th duck as captain in the longest format.

Meanwhile, Kohli as a captain was always high on energy on the field during the Test series as India fought back hard after losing the first match to claim series 3-1. Kohli gave freedom to the young stars of the Indian team including Pant, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar to play their natural game.

After winning the series, Kohli talked about the emergence of young players in the Indian team.

“Axar and Washington are ready and the idea was to have youngsters who came in and perform with fearlessness. Rishabh and Washi did it with that game-changing partnership and Axar too. Well, we’re obviously happy to win the series, but there are always things to improve. Nothing is a given because every team is an international side. In the future, we will have hiccups, but we have to keep ironing them out.,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

trending this week