'Crowd got under his skin': AB de Villiers' simple advice to Virat Kohli, hit 'reset' button and 'forget about bowler'
Virat Kohli's former RCB teammate AB de Villiers had a word of advice following his struggles in the BGT this tour.
Virat Kohli’s struggles throughout the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was one of the main takeaways from Australia’s 3-1 victory, as the Indian star wasn’t able to replicate his many heroics of the past on Australian soil. Kohli nicked behind in all eight of his dismissals in the series, coming in for criticism and concern regarding his form.
With Kohli looking for any sort of help to regain his mojo in red-ball cricket, he has received a word of advice from his former teammate and long-time friend AB de Villiers, who spoke about Kohli in a live session on X.
“Every single batter in the world has got some sort of a weakness,” said the former Proteas legend, who shared the dressing room with Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore. “For me it was the straight ball hitting my pads. Even towards the back end of my career and in the form of my life, all the experience that I needed to go out and score runs.”
Commenting on what is required to get over that sort of hump and enter a zone again, de Villiers had a simple recommendation: “It takes a lot of character, a lot of hunger, lot of hours in the nets. I think the thing is to reset your mind, everytime.”
‘The crowd got under his skin…’
De Villiers also recommended that Kohli not let the heat of battle affect him too much, understanding that it is a part of his game but that it also goes against allowing himself to reset mentally: “I think with Virat, he gets involved with the battle on the field. That's one of his biggest strengths and it can also be a weakness. During this series, we saw him have individual battles with some of the players, the crowd got under his skin.”
Kohli could be seen egging on the Australian crowd with references to sandpapergate, even after being dismissed cheaply in his last innings of the tour. Kohli was his usual belligerent self even if the runs didn’t back him up, with only 190 in 8 innings including a century in Perth.
“Virat loves the fight, but when you're not in the form of your life, it's best to get rid of those things. As a batter, it is to reset every single and realise every ball is an event and just forget about the bowler,” continued de Villiers. “I think sometimes Virat forgets about that because of his fighting spirit and the nature of the man wanting to be involved and show the whole of India he is there to fight for them."
De Villiers’ ultimate recommendation was that Kohli needs to work on his focus for every single ball in a vacuum. "The skill, experience and greatness of the guy are not an issue. It's about the refocus after every single ball. Maybe sometimes he gets too involved.”
Kohli will try to regain form as he prepares for his favourite format, with the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy now gaining focus at the end of a long and difficult tour in Australia.
