New Delhi: Indian skipper Virat Kohli has paid emotional tribute to his former Royal Challengers Bangalore team-mate and South African batsman AB de Villiers, who recently bid adieu to all forms of international cricket.
Taking to his Twitter handle, the 29-year-old Indian dubbed de Villiers as his `brother` before wishing the former South African skipper good luck for the future endeavors.
“Wish you all the best in everything that you do my brother,” Kohli wrote.
Kohli, who also posted a picture of himself and de Villiers along with the tweet, further praised his RCB team-mate
for changing the way of batting in the international cricket.
“You’ve changed the way batting was seen in the time you’ve played international cricket. My best wishes to you and your family for this amazing journey ahead,” Kohli tweeted.
Few days back, Kohli also dubbed de Villiers’ gravity-defying boundary catch during RCB’s 14-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash as a `spiderman stuff` while adding that the normal human beings don’t do such things.
On May 23, de Villiers posted a video of himself wherein he announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket with immediate effect, thus putting an end to his 14-year illustrious career.
De Villiers, who made his international debut during a Test match against England in 2004, retires as the greatest batsmen of his time, having appeared in 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20I for the national side.
He finished his career with an incredible 20,014 international runs, including 8,765 inTests, 9,577 in ODIs and 1,672 in T20Is.
De Villiers, who bagged the coveted SA Cricketer of the Year award twice in 2014 and 2015, holds a phenomenal number of records to his name.
He holds the world record for the fastest ODI 50 (16 balls), 100 (31 balls) and 150 (64 balls) besides also being the second highest individual Test scorer for South Africa (278*). (ANI)