AB de Villiers heaps praise on 'special leader' Virat Kohli

The chips were down for Team India after the 1st Test against England in Chennai, where they lost by a huge 227-run margin. Going from there, to winning the series 3-1, took a special effort from Virat Kohli and his boys.

After the series triumph, Virat Kohli's RCB teammate AB de Villiers was full of praise for the Indian skipper. In his tweet, Mr. 360 claimed that it was Virat Kohli's leadership style and body language that allowed the youngsters to play with freedom and dominate the opposition.

"Kohli’s leadership this Test match allowed young guns like Axar, Rishabh and Washie to play with freedom and dominate the game. It takes a special leader to elevate other players around them through body language and passion when their personal performance has been down," AB de Villiers wrote in his tweet.

AB de Villiers, who himself went through a few lean patches while captaining South Africa, understands how tough it is to motivate others during those times.

Kohli’s leadership this test match allowed young guns like Axar, Rishabh and Washie to play with freedom and dominate the game. It takes a special leader to elevate other players around them through body language and passion when their personal performance has been down.

— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) March 6, 2021

A below-par series for Virat Kohli with the bat

Even though Virat Kohli has been brilliant with his leadership on the field, he had a pretty ordinary series with the bat by his standards. Usually, the 31-year-old sets the bar quite high for himself and takes pride in scoring big runs for the team. But he had his share of struggles in the recent series against England.

Virat Kohli managed to score just 172 runs in six innings at an average of 28.66. Although Kohli registered two half-centuries in the first two Tests, he also bagged two ducks – only the second time in his career that he was dismissed twice for a duck in the same series.

Virat Kohli's highest score in this series came in the second innings of the first Test. He scored 72 runs against the run of play when most of his teammates found it tough to bat on that track.

His other half-century came in the second innings of the second Test. He scored 62 runs, helping Team India set a huge target for England in the process.