Virat Kohli has credited the advice from AB de Villiers as one of the key factors that contributed to his timely return to form in India’s seven-wicket win over England this past Sunday.
In the first T20I on Friday, Kohli was dismissed for a duck for the third time in his last five innings against England. It was also the first time he had been dismissed in back-to-back defeats across 761 previous innings across all official formats.
It was a run of uncharacteristic struggles at the crease, with other recent innings only yielding a hard-fought 62 in the second innings of the second Test and 27 in the only innings of the pink-ball Test against England.
However, he responded with an unbeaten 73 as India levelled the T20I series on Sunday.
Talking to the broadcasters after his half-century, Kohli provided a simple response in explaining how he got back to form, and made special mention of good friend and IPL teammate AB de Villiers.
‘Kept my eye on the ball. The management spoke to me about things. Anushka [Kohli’s wife] is here, so she also keeps speaking to me about things. And I had a special chat with AB de Villiers before this game and he told me just to watch the ball. So I did.’
