ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Virat Kohli wary of threat posed by AB de Villiers

What’s the story?

India captain Virat Kohli has labeled South Africa captain AB de Villiers as the “most committed cricketer” he has seen and admitted that he empathizes with the 33-year-old, who has been battling with injury and poor form in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of South Africa, Kohli said: “I actually empathize with him. I go through this a lot as well. When you have set standards for yourself and people get shocked. He is by far the most committed cricketer I have seen and The reason for that is trying to do something extra for his team and that’s the kind of character he has always been. So I won’t say I’m shocked. I know AB quite well, so I know the reason behind his mindset of playing like that.

He was also wary of the threat posed by the Proteas captain. “At the same time, you know that he can come out and when he’s in the right frame of mind and it's his day and he’s in the mood, doesn’t matter what he has done in the past games, or how many runs he has scored or not, if he decides to play the way only he can, then you have to find a way to get him out pretty quickly. So we’ll look to stop not only him but all their batsmen, I think they are a quality side and we need to respect every batsman equally and that’s the kind of mindset we will go in with tomorrow,” he added.

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In case you didn’t know...

The South African captain was dismissed for a golden duck for the first time in his ODI career, against Pakistan. Despite averaging in excess of 50 in ODIs at a strike rate of over 100, the 33-year-old hasn’t got going in the Champions Trophy where he has scored just four runs in two matches.

The Details

The Proteas captain, though, has a very good record against India in ODIs. Among all countries, he has scored the most centuries against India (6) and has an average of 53.29 and a strike rate in excess of 110. Despite his poor run in this year’s Champions Trophy, he still averages in excess of 55 in ODIs in 2017 and Kohli is right to keep in mind the threat posed by the 33-year-old.

What’s next?

Both India and South Africa won their opening games convincingly but lost their second and that has set up a virtual quarter-final on Sunday as the winner will progress, with the loser crashing out of the tournament.

Author’s Take

While it is true that AB de Villiers isn't in great form in the tournament, as they say, form is temporary and class is permanent. It is just a matter of time before the Proteas skipper fires and India will do well to ensure that it doesn’t happen against them in a virtual quarter-final.