AB de Villiers helped me improve my game in South Africa, says Virat Kohli
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli has recently revealed that AB de Villiers, unknowingly, helped him improve his game during India's tour of South Africa. Kohli struggled in the first Test of the tour with scores of 5 and 28 in the two innings.
However, he came roaring back to form with a knock of 153 in the second Test and a half-century in the third. The Indian skipper went a step further and broke several records during the ODI series which saw him slam three centuries and a half-century.
Kohli, in an interview with NDTV, spoke about how analysing AB de Villiers's approach against Jasprit Bumrah helped him get better. The Delhi batsman, however, further added that his RCB teammate has no idea about the adjustments he has made to his game.
"I actually learnt something from him in the recent Test series that we played. I made that adjustment to my game, which I haven't told him about yet."
"I used to tap my bat right at the end, before playing the ball, which works for me in the shorter formats where the ball isn't doing much. In the Test series, we saw replays of Bumrah beating him (De Villiers), but the ball wouldn't hit the edge because he was so correct with what he was doing there.
"I was wondering that why I've been edging the ball. I saw his videos, analysed them and realised that his head is very still. So I stopped the tap of the bat which helped me stay stiller and then I scored runs and it became better for me.
"So, I immediately learnt that from him during the Test series but never told him."
Both Kohli and De Villiers, for now, have all their focus fixed on RCB and their run in the 2018 IPL. The Bangalore-based franchise have only one win out of four and sit second from bottom. They face Delhi Daredevils next, who themselves have only two points on the board and are placed eighth on the table.
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