Virat keeps me passionate, I keep him calmer: AB

New Delhi, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli are good friends. They have been playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore for a while now, and have apparently had quite an influence on each other, both on the field and off it. The South African feels that while Kohli has helped him keep his passion alive, the Indian has probably learnt how to stay calm under pressure from him.
“I am a few years ahead of him. I think I was very similar to him — played the game with a lot of passion, energy, and good skills, working hard at your game, not accepting defeat at all,” said de Villiers. “His passion is something I love watching in him. He is giving me that passion in my old age.”
The Proteas swashbuckler claims to have become a calming influence on Kohli. “Something he has learnt from me is maybe to control things a bit better, stay calm under pressure, and sometimes to hide the passion a little bit in order to make clear and right decisions,” he said. “I think he really is close to achieving that and maybe that’s something he has learnt from me.”
De Villiers, considered among the best batsmen in modern cricket, said he does not rate himself that highly given that he no longer plays Test matches regularly. “I don’t think I can be the best batsman. I don’t play all formats. He (Kohli) is definitely the best player in the world,” he said. “If you are in the top-five in all three formats, that’s when you know you can really play the game.”
De Villiers is close to amassing 10,000 Test runs, having already accumulated 8074, but he considers it no big achievement. “I mean no disrespect to anyone who has ever achieved that, but it means absolutely zero to me to achieve 10,000 runs. I don’t care about that at all,” he said.
Laid low by back problems, which has delayed his IPL outing this year, de Villiers said he does not find it hard to recover even at 33. “I think of (Rafael) Nadal, the way he’s come back has inspired me a lot. He’d been out for quite a long time as well. But that’s part of the game, you come and you go,” he said.
Among the most innovative stroke-makers in international cricket, de Villiers said he hardly practises his unorthodox shots. “I feel it’s something that comes out naturally. It’s almost like I’ve got to set my foundation and a platform to express myself at the end. Those things just came naturally to me over the years,” he said.
“I practice my shots, but I don’t practice the silly, funny lap shots and things like that.” — PTI
Virat and I are still friends, says Warner
India skipper Virat Kohli and explosive Australian opener David Warner are still friends, the latter has claimed. “Virat and I had a chat and we are still friends, thankfully,” said Warner, who’s the skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad. “I had a text conversation with him, which was very nice. Away from the field we all are very good friends,” Warner said. “Sometimes, we take the game too seriously and for some time we might think ‘No, I don’t like him’ but we all are going to be friends,” he added. The Indian skipper, after winning the fiercely-fought Test series, had famously declared that he was no longer friends with the Australians. Kohli, however, had amended the sweeping statement a couple of day later saying that he had struck off just a couple of Aussie cricketers from him friend list, not the entire team.