AB de Villiers, a former South Africa and Royal Challengers Bengaluru legend, recently excluded Virat Kohli, a close friend and former RCB teammate, from his list of the best five cricketers. Throughout multiple RCB seasons, the de Villiers-Kohli team had many special moments together.
After being reminded by Adil Rashid that he had neglected to mention the Indian great’s name, the Proteas legend apologized to Virat and explained why he had selected Sachin Tendulkar over the latter. By sharing his own experiences of taking on Jacques Kallis, Mohammad Asif, Shane Warne, and Andrew Flintoff in the past, the 41-year-old further expressed why he thought each of them was special.
With the audiences were [Jacques] Kallis, [Andrew] Flintoff, Mohammad Asif, [Shane] Warne, and Sachin. Everything would stop when Sakin stepped out to bat because of how he was greeted. It’s lovely to watch him bat. Sorry, Sachin, Virat.
Such questions are therefore very difficult to respond to,” AB de Villiers said on the Beard Before Wicket podcast.
“Kallis is perhaps the greatest cricket player of all time, perhaps the best all-around player. The best seamen I’ve ever encountered was Asif. I enjoyed playing Warne, but I never had any trouble. His general demeanor, floppy hat, zinc cream, and golden hair all appealed to me. Once more, Andrew Flintoff was a standout performer. The South African legend went on, “That yorker to Kallis in Edgbaston is the best I have seen.”
AB de Villiers is a legend in his own right. He averaged 50.66 and 53.50 in 114 Test matches and 228 One-Day Internationals for South Africa at the end of his 14-year international cricket career. Having played 156 IPL games for RCB, he is also one of the team’s most successful players. He was a crucial member of the Bengaluru-based team alongside Kohli.
The World Championship of Legends (WCL) 2025 was the most recent tournament in which he captained the South African champions. With 429 runs in six innings at an explosive strike rate of 220, the batting maestro led the charge brilliantly and emerged as the top run scorer. In the final, the South African team defeated a formidable Pakistani team and won as well.
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