Jos Buttler chooses between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for the greatest T20 batter [Watch]

Jos Buttler was recently asked to pick one out of Team India star Virat Kohli and former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers as the greatest T20 batter in world cricket. The English wicketkeeper had to choose between the two legendary cricketers during a 'winner stays on' game.

De Villiers got the nod from Buttler over Kohli in the segment. Buttler's comments came in a video shared on the Instagram handle of 'For the Love of Cricket.' The other options who were part of the game but didn't make it to the final two include Chris Gayle, Babar Azam, David Warner, Kevin Pietersen, Glenn Maxwell, and Yuvraj Singh.

The host started the game with the names of Buttler and Gayle. The ex-England white-ball captain eliminated himself from the race by preferring the West Indies legend.

Here's a video of the segment:

It is worth mentioning that both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have performed admirably in the T20 cricket. With 13,543 runs across 397 innings at a strike rate of 134.67, Kohli is currently the fifth-highest run-scorer in the format.

The ace batter retired from T20Is following the Men in Blue's 2024 T20 World Cup triumph. He looked in stunning form in the recently concluded 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL), chalking up 657 runs from 15 innings in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) title-winning campaign.

De Villiers, on the other hand, amassed 9,424 runs from 320 T20 innings at a strike rate of 150.13. He announced his retirement from all forms of the game in November 2021.

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"I remember coming away from it being so thankful for his time" - Jos Buttler recalls Virat Kohli's advice on handling pressure of expectations

Speaking on the 'For the Love of Cricket' podcast, Jos Buttler recently opened up on his conversation with Virat Kohli during the 2023 edition of the IPL. He recalled having a chat with the RCB veteran about managing the pressure of expectations.

Buttler revealed that the conversation was after he had a terrific season in 2022, but was struggling to replicate the same kind of success in the subsequent season. Revealing Kohli's advice, the 34-year-old said (from 41:05):

"I just thought I am going to ask him (Virat Kohli) a couple of questions. He had just finished batting. I thought why not go over and ask him. The question, sort of, was about how do you manage expectations? There is more expectation on him than anyone in world cricket. one-and-a-half billion people, all wanting to see you score runs.

"He was so generous with his time, so helpful about maybe that was just that one season where it is the best season you ever had and you just have to say and accept that. Don't try to replicate it and don't try and feel the pressure that is all on your own that you are putting it on. It is okay, life is going to be fine, it is going to work out. I remember coming away from it being so thankful for his time and grateful for his insights and amazed by the knowledge that he had of my own game and sort of what might work."

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli drew curtains on his 14-year-long decorated Test career during IPL 2025. The seasoned campaigner announced his red-ball retirement through a social media post on May 12.