Kohli empathises with out-of-form De Villiers

Adversities of similar nature always help people relate to each other, which is precisely the reason why Virat Kohli can "empathise” with good friend AB de Villiers for his poor run of form that has continued since the start of Indian Premier League.

De Villiers has had only one 50 plus score in his last five ODI knocks. When Kohli was asked about the South African captain’s form, he said that he could relate to De Villiers’ current plight.

"I empathise with him. I go through this a lot, as well. When you have set standards for yourself and then people get shocked (because of poor form)! You know, he is by far the most coveted cricketer I have ever seen around, and the reason for that was trying to do something extra for his team and that’s the kind of character he has always been,” Kohli sounded genuinely empathetic.

Having played for Royal Challengers Bangalore alongside De Villiers, Kohli said that he knows AB’s mindset better than anyone else.

"I know AB quite well, so I know the reason behind his mindset of playing like that. Yeah, but at the same time, when in the right frame of mind, it doesn’t matter what he’s done in the past games or how many runs he has scored or not scored. If he decides to play the way he can, you know you have to find a way to get him out pretty quickly.”

When de Villiers was asked about Virat’s comments, he said: "That’s nice of him.”

Asked about his barren form, De Villiers made it clear that he thought otherwise.

"Look, I am still in good form. I am still hitting the ball well, as always. It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it. There’s nothing I can say here that’s going to change anything except for that I still believe I can and hopefully I will prove that tomorrow.”

"But I am very excited with this opportunity for the team and for myself on the big stage to go and just enjoy what we do best and that’s to play cricket and to enjoy each other’s company out there. So we are very excited about tomorrow, and I also feel really excited about the opportunities tomorrow.”

Image: AB de Villiers of South Africa leaves the field 

Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images