“Had a special chat with ABD”: Virat Kohli reveals AB de Villiers’ advice before scoring half-century in Ahmedabad T20I

Virat Kohli reveals AB de Villiers’ advice: The Indian captain silenced his critics with a match-winning innings at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

India captain Virat Kohli sounded contended with his team’s 7-wicket victory at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Justifying Kohli’s decision of fielding first, the Indian bowlers bowled exceedingly well to restrict England to 164/6 in 20 overs.

Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli highlighted how the likes of all-rounder Washington Sundar and the pacer-duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur bowled with discipline to give the English batsmen many chances of scoring runs.

“We ticked all the boxes we wanted to and to give away only 34-odd [35] in the last five overs is very special effort. Special mention to Washi [Washington Sunar] and everyone chipped in and all in all very happy with the bowling and batting as well,” Kohli told Star Sports.

Kohli, who found himself in the middle in only the second over, put together a 94-run partnership alongside debutant batsman Ishan Kishan as the pair laid the foundation of an Indian victory. Admitting that the surface was better to bat on in the second innings, Kohli lauded Kishan for scoring a half-century on debut.

“It did come onto the bat a bit better in the second innings and the slower balls stopped gripped and special mention to Ishan [Kishan] the way he batted.

“I tried to do what I can but he kept following his instincts and it was a quality innings on debut. When you play in the IPL with such dominance like he has and he is a fearless character and he knew that he was hitting the ball well and he is very calculated and not restless,” Kohli said.

Virat Kohli reveals AB de Villiers’ advice before second Ahmedabad T20I

Had it been any other batsman, there would’ve been no such talks of a rough patch. However, with Kohli, even a couple of failures usually entice discussions around his form. Coming on the back of a duck in the first T20I, Kohli disclosed having a “special chat” with former South Africa captain and Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate AB de Villiers before this match.

“I had to shift the focus back to the basics of the game and I’ve always taken pride in doing the job for the team. So, more happy about that than scoring 70-odd [73*]. The management spoke to me about things. Anushka [Sharma, wife] is here so she also keeps speaking to me about things.

“And also, I had a special chat with ABD [AB de Villiers] before the start of the game and he just told me to watch the ball. That’s exactly what I did,” Kohli mentioned.