Former Royal Challengers Bangalore teammates AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli are great mates now off the pitch. However, in a recent interaction with Chris Gayle, De Villiers admitted that when he first saw Kohli, he though that the batter was an arrogant person. However, the former South African skipper said that his views about the ex-RCB and India captain changed when he got to know Kohli the person from close quarters.
De Villiers, who has been inducted into the RCB Hall of Fame along with Chris Gayle, made these revelations in a recent episode of Bold Diaries.
"Oh my goodness...I have had this question before and I had given this answer before as well. I think he was quite cocky and arrogant when I met him the first time. With that hairstyle and he had bit of a strut going...yes flamboyant, absolutely," De Villiers said
"But the minute I got to know him a bit better and watched him play I mean I've got as much respect for him but I got to know him better as a human being. I think he had a barrier around him when I met him the first time and that barrier opened up and I got to know the person. I didn't not like him but you know what I'm saying. He's a top person now but first impression was ufff...he's got to come down to earth a bit," De Villiers added in the video where he is chatting with Gayle.
Overall, De Villiers played 184 matches in the IPL scoring 5162 runs at an average of 39.71 and a strike rate of over 150. He scored 3 hundreds and 40 half-centuries in his IPL career, many of those from nearly impossible situations coming into bat in the middle order. Other than that he took some of the most outstanding catches in the history of the tournament and also donned the wicketkeeping gloves for his team to ensure that the team is able to play the right combination.