Former South Africa captain and Royal Challengers Bangalore legend AB de Villiers says Virat Kohli looks relaxed and happy this season after giving away captaincy roles at the Indian Premier League franchise and also the national team. Kohli, who scored an unbeaten 82 to propel his IPL side to an eight wicket win against Mumbai Indians in their season opener, stepped down as RCB captain after the 2021 season, around the same time he made his departure as skipper of the Indian side team in different formats.
“I haven’t seen much change, everything is the same. The technique looks solid; he’s got good balance in the crease. He’s still that ‘busy’ player with a lot of energy at the wicket. I just feel he has this season has come in and looks very fresh. I’ve seen some of his interviews where he smiles more than ever…,” de Villiers told the media when asked what change he has noticed in Kohli’s batting over the past few years.
“I think letting go of the captain’s armband last season played a big part in relaxing him. He was a fantastic captain but he did it both internationally and also in the IPL for a long time, which can be discouraging. You never get time to chill or spend with family or laugh with some friends I think that’s his mantra for this season, just go out and have fun, keep smiling,” added de Villiers, IPL expert at Jio Cinema.
“When he’s having fun, the natural talent takes over and he scores runs at ease, which he did in those first innings. I think the best is yet to come and we’re going to see fireworks,” de Villiers said.
De Villiers supported the Indian and Mumbai Indians batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who witnessed a sudden dip in form, and advised him to focus on what has worked in the past.
“He’s probably in that phase right now where he needs to do something. But the secret to it all is not to panic and not to change your game plan. He needs to stick with what he’s been doing for the past few years. Yeah maybe he can try remembering ‘what are my fundamentals’ or ‘what did I do really well when I was just consistently scoring points’ and because he’s clearly taken his game to a whole other level,” de Villiers said.
De Villiers said Suryakumar will have to forget expectations of him. “It’s not a bad thing to just level down and spend some time there before coming out again. You can’t always score 100 off 40 balls – it won’t always happen. That’s something I had to learn on the hard way with the Chinnaswamy crowd expecting me to score a hundred in every match I had to say to myself sometimes ‘You know what AB let’s face it you don’t read the ball very well Just make sure before you run -a-ball and give the shot to Virat or just turn someone else on. “And then slowly but surely I get one good shot and then I’m back in the game,” he said.
“There will always be a sign when you get in good shape; there will be a bad delivery from the bowler or you hit a good straight drive and then you can say ‘hold on I’m back in shape and let’s hurt the bowlers’. You just have to handle the gears – I call them gears between first and fifth gear, ‘where I am right now’. He’s probably in second gear right now. Respect the fact that you are in second gear, find a way to get to third and from there you can push,” said de Villiers.
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