Former South Africa player and one of the best batsmen in the world, AB de Villiers believes that personality and mental strength is something which helps India captain Virat Kohli to grow as a player, to overcome any failures quickly and makes him the best ODI player in the world. AB De Villiers is one of the key members of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and he will be seen taking the batting charge along with the RCB captain Virat Kohli as the Indian Premier League (IPL) is going to start from March 23.

“Virat’s performances over the last while have been incredible and I can’t see it stopping very soon. I have played with him for eight years now in the IPL and you can never take the class out of the guy,” AB de Villiers said sport24.

“However, he is human after all and, like any other cricketer, he will go through patches from time to time where he has to go back to the basics and work his way through it again. I believe it’s his personality and mental strength that gets him through those moments and makes him the best ODI player in the world at the moment,” de Villers further added.

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However, the experienced player thinks that there are a lot of similarities between him and Virat Kohli.

“We are both fighters and don’t enjoy losing, we love batting together and taking the game away from teams.”

While talking about the upcoming ICC World Cup in May-July, de Villiers chose India and England among the favourites.

“The Proteas are certainly in the running, but I won’t say they are the favourites to be honest with you. India and England are looking strong, Australia have won five World Cups in the past and Pakistan claimed the Champions Trophy in the UK two years ago,” de Villers expressed.

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“Those four teams are probably the favourites, but the way the Proteas have been playing in the 50-over format of late has been encouraging,” he further added.