Lifting the lid of his on-field rivalry with Kohli, Williams recalled when they both had come face-to-face with each other for the first time in 2017 when the Windies speedster used his 'notebook celebration' after departing Virat during a game in Jamaica.
"Virat Kohli is the first person I did that notebook celebration on in Jamaica. When I did the notebook celebration, I did it because I liked it and I did it for my fans. But Kohli didn't see it that way," Williams said in a video interview uploaded on International Cricket Network 360 YouTube channel.
"After the game finished, I went to shake his hands, Kohli said good bowling and he walked off. He didn't walk off rudely. But it was the end of our greeting."
Two years later in 2019, Virat Kohli completely destroyed not only Williams but the entire Windies bowling department as he scored an unbeaten 94 off 50 balls to help team India attain their highest-ever T20I chase (208 runs) and win the T20 game by six-wickets.
"As soon as Mr Virat Kohli walked into bat, he walks straight at me and says, ‘the notebook celebration thing is not going to work here tonight. I'm going to make sure it won't work'," said Williams.
"Seriously! The episode is back from 2017. Every ball I bowled he said something but I simply responded with ‘mate, just shut up and bat. Really, you sound like a child'," Williams said.
"But all he heard was ‘can you just bat and shut up'. The part about child and whatever he didn't hear because I was walking back.
"That's all I said but he kept talking. In the match he beat me really bad, I got confused, because he got into my head honestly and I kept thinking its alright, he got into my head and that's why he beat me badly," he added.