Former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers has spoken on India legend Virat Kohli’s Test retirement. On May 12, the India legend announced his retirement through his Instagram account. Kohli’s decision shocked his Royal Challenger Bengaluru (RCB) teammate and the Protea legend de Villiers, who said he was surprised at the 36-year-old’s decision. He also looked emotional but accepted the fact that all good things come to an end and the same applied to Kohli’s Test stint for India as well. Both Kohli and de Villiers played together for Challengers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) from 2011 to 2021.
Speaking to JioHotstar, de Villiers said, “Yes, obviously surprised, we all are emotional. I mean, we wanted to see him play forever, right? That’s what we have in mind, this as fans. I was a teammate of his for a few players, also played as an opponent against him on the field and you almost just over the years get used to him always being around. But all good things come to an end and he’s had a wonderful and so much to celebrate so we’re all just very proud of him and want to wish him all the best for whatever he takes on in the future.”
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers’ equation for RCB in IPL 2025
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers played together for Challengers from 2010 to 2021. During this period, both registered IPL’s two best batting partnerships. In 2016, both legends took Gujarat Lions’ bowling attack to the cleaners at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and stitched a 229-run stand for the second wicket. It is the most-successful stand in the cash-rich league.
With their partnership against Gujarat, both batters shattered their own feat of an unbeaten 215-run partnership against Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2015. Back in 2016, when RCB concluded their campaign as runners-up, Kohli became the Orange Cap winner with 973 runs in 16 matches while de Villiers ended up as the third-leading run-scorer in the tournament with 687 runs in 16 games.
