Two of the best batsmen of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) - Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers - are close friends as well.
However, when the first time the South African met the now Indian skipper, his impression about Kohli was different.
Kohli and de Villiers gave an account of their friendship in an Instagram live session recently.
But the situation was not the same always. De Villiers in that same live session, revealed that he was skeptical about Kohli when he first met him.
“It’s an interesting story, it’s a very human thing to do when you hear about someone for a few years, I had heard a lot about you from Mark Boucher. I think you were 18-19 when you started playing for RCB and Boucher would tell me about you. I had known you for three years but had never met you,” said De Villiers.
“It’s a human thing to sort of put a bit of defence around you. I remember walking up that tunnel, I remember saying ‘Hi’ but the defences were on like I don’t quite trust this guy
yet, I’ve heard a lot about him, I’ve seen the hair, I’ve seen the style but I’m not convinced,” added de Villiers.
However, the South African added that it did not take him long to know Kohli.
“But it didn’t take you long to get to know you better, to see the humane side in you. Luckily a lot of people have seen that humane side of yours because of what you’ve
achieved. If that didn’t happen, I don’t think a lot of people would’ve got to enjoy the humane side of yours. That’s why we’ve got a lot of respect for you because of what you’ve
achieved,” de Villiers said.Kohli too shared his memories and said, “I remember the first time we met it was in Johannesburg and we came down the tunnel, you guys were finishing practice and we were just starting ours. I said ‘hello we’re gonna be playing together,’ it was a brief chat. Who knew after 9 years we will be such good friends. It’s been wonderful to create a lot of memories with you”.
