The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 is the beginning of a new era in many ways. While several teams had to let go of many of their key players due to the IPL 2022 auction, many big names have been missing from the tournament. Arguably the biggest of them all is AB de Villiers – who was one of the pillars of the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise over the years. The legendary South African cricketer retired from IPL ahead of the 15th edition.
Kohli, who stepped down as the RCB skipper ahead of IPL 2022, recalled the time when he received a voice note from De Villiers after the T20 World Cup – where he informed him about his decision to retire from the IPL.
“It’s very strange I mean, I clearly remember when he decided to finally call it a day. He sent me a voice note, we were coming back from Dubai after the World Cup. I got a voice note from AB de Villiers while we were driving back home. I opened it and while I was listening to it, I looked at Anushka in shock. My face fell to which she questioned, I showed her the message and the voice note from AB and she exclaimed, ‘Don’t tell me!’. She knew,” Kohli said on RCB Bold Diaries.
The camaraderie between de Villiers and Kohli grew with each new season with the two modern-day greats sharing mutual respect and admiration for each other on numerous occasions.
Kohli added that he could sense something was coming last season and would avoid meeting de Villiers whenever the latter said he wanted to have a coffee with him over a chat.
“I kind of had the impression and was guessing it in the last IPL. Our rooms were next to each other, and we would walk the same way and disperse, every time we walked to our room and he would see me outside, he would be like ‘I want to see you for coffee, one of these days. I kept getting nervous and was like ‘I am not sitting with you because I think there is something coming’ to which he always said ‘No man there is nothing, I just want to have a chat with you, it’s been a while and he never speaks like that because we interact all the time. So, I knew something is brewing up. It is a very strange feeling I got very emotional. The voice note was very emotional as well for me when he said, ‘Look I don’t have it in me anymore. I have shared so many moments with him, highs and lows, everything we have been through he was right next to me,” Kohli added.
Despite reaching three IPL finals, RCB are yet to lift an IPL title and if they do so in the next few seasons, Kohli said he would think about AB de Villiers – who has done so much for the franchise and impacted the lives of many.
The other day, it got me thinking, if we manage to win the title in the coming seasons, I would be very emotional thinking about him first. Rather than what I would experience after such hard work of so many years, I would actually think of him. It would still mean a lot to him even if he is watching the game from home. He is a special human being as he has touched everyone, and we all can vouch for that. He has been amazing, and I don’t think there is one person who can say that AB de Villiers has not contributed to their lives in some way or the other,” Kohli signed off.
