South Africa great AB de Villiers has revealed that India icon Virat Kohli had stopped talking to him for months after he had mistakenly revealed the news of the latter expecting his second child with wife Anushka Sharma. During an interview in February 2024, de Villiers had mistakenly revealed that Kohli would become dad for the second time before the India legend had himself made the news public.
Kohli was missing India's Test series against England at home in early 2024 due to personal reasons but those reasons were not public until de Villiers mistakenly broke the news out. The former South African had issued a public apology and had asked the fans for privacy.
De Villiers revealed that Kohli did not talk to him for months and reached out to him during the Border-Gavaskar series when he was going through a tough phase. "I know we were in the same boat because we spoke about it. He's been in touch with me over the last six months. Thank goodness, because I did have a bit of a footfall not so long ago when they were expecting their second child (De Villiers had publicly announced it before Kohli). So I was very relieved when he started talking to me again," de Villiers said in an interview.
"So he was talking about... We all know he went through a bit of a patch and sort of wanted to bounce a few ideas off me — how did I get through certain moments of my life. So I knew what kind of phase he was going through, considering his age, how many games he's played, the dynamics of being in the team all the time, the politics thereof as well.
"Lots of things weigh in on you. And I shared with him from the heart what I felt and what I think, what I'm seeing from the side, watching him on the screen. So very happy that he's still around playing cricket. And the decision to not play Test cricket would have come from the heart.
Meanwhile, de Villiers hopes that the batter had a lot more to give in the ODI cricket. "And I support him 100% with that. He's had a wonderful career, and I want him to enjoy his cricket until the very last ball. And if that is the way forward for him, then great, I'm right behind him. Hopefully, a lot more white-ball cricket for him left," he concluded.