AB de Villiers opens up on what he loves about Virat Kohli's batting

Arguably the best batsman in the world, AB de Villiers, has showered praises on his Royal Challengers Bangalore team-mate Virat Kohli calling him one of the greatest in the world. This comes just days after Kohli had called AB the greatest batsman of this generation

In a column for Indian daily The Hindu, the star batsman spoke about the aspects of Kohli’s batting which he admires most. “Virat is one of the world’s greatest batsmen, combining an unmatched ability to dispatch the ball with pin-point accuracy with exceptional running between the wickets; there is nobody in the game with the same talent for finding the spaces in the field,” wrote de Villiers on what makes the Indian ace special.

In RCB’s first match of the VIVO IPL 2016, the two iconic batsmen shared an incredible partnership of 157 runs which virtually put the Sunrisers Hyderabad out of the game. This is certainly not the first time the duo annihilated the opposition in an IPL match. Last year, Kohli and de Villiers had added 215 runs in a match against the Mumbai Indians with the latter scoring a century.

AB also had a few words of appreciation for RCB’s big-hitting opener Chris Gayle in his column. He wrote, "Chris is another of the world’s greatest batsmen, the master of the power game. He reads the game unbelievably well and is quick to assess any weakness in the bowler. He will patiently wait for the right moment to pounce but, when he does, he will send the ball to all corners of any field.”

The Bangalore franchise’s new recruit, all-rounder Shane Watson, too, garnered praise from de Villiers. About him, the prolific batsman said, “ It’s also great to see Shane Watson playing for RCB this season. I am in awe of the Australian’s bowling ability and the way he works over the batsman.”

AB de Villiers also cleared the air about any possibilities of a rivalry breeding amid the feared RCB batting trio. “There is no rivalry between us. We work together, encouraging and being encouraged, urging and being urged, feeding off each other’s knowledge and experience to ensure the best possible team performance on the field,” wrote the champion batsman.

With the kind of camaraderie that exists between de Villiers, Kohli and Gayle, they may be able to finally hand the Royal Challengers Bangalore their maiden IPL title this year.