AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli established a great bond while playing for RCB (AFP Photo)

AB de Villiers responds to Virat Kohli's 'kind words' after Hall of Fame induction

AB de Villiers was recently inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after which Virat Kohli paid tribute to him. Kohli and De Villiers played several match-winning knocks together for RCB in the IPL.

by · India Today

In Short

  • AB de Villiers recently became a member of the ICC’s Hall of Fame
  • Virat Kohli had earlier paid tribute to AB de Villiers
  • De Villiers made his debut in 2005 and retired in 2018

Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers expressed his gratitude to Virat Kohli for his ‘kind words’ after being inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame along with legendary England batter Alastair Cook and former Indian women’s spinner Neetu David.

Kohli and de Villiers played together for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and shared plenty of match-winning partnerships in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After De Villiers became a part of some elite list of cricketers in the ICC Hall of Fame, Kohli called him “the most talented cricketer I have played with" .

De Villiers, who retired from international cricket in 2018, and last played in the IPL back in 2021, thanked Kohli. He also said that rather than his records, he wanted to be remembered as a player for whom team was more important that personal milestones.

“It is really special for me and obviously Virat as well, thank you so very much for the kind words. What I am really proud about is Virat speaking about me always putting the team first,” De Villiers said, as quoted by ICC.

“Always prepared to do everything I can to have an impact on the team. And that’s how I want to be remembered by, not by my stats or my records. I want to be remembered as a guy who contributed to the team and always put the team first. I am very, very proud about that and I will not shy away from that. That is certainly the way I played my cricket and it was always a priority to me,” De Villiers added.

After making his debut back in 2005, De Villiers went on to become one of the greatest cricketers South Africa ever produced. In 538 matches across formats for the Proteas, he notched 16 hundreds and 108 half-centuries.