AB de Villiers: Virat Kohli's passion is something I love watching in him

Both Kohli and de Villiers have been playing for the RCB and in the process, they have developed a healthy relationship on and off the field. Kohli has apparently helped de Villiers to stay passionate about his game and the South African claims to have taught the Indian captain the art of soaking up pressure and staying calm under that. 

"I am a few years ahead of him. I think I was very similar to him played the game with a lot of passion, energy, and good skills, working hard at your game, not accepting defeat at all," de Villiers said to ESPN Cricinfo. 

"His passion is something I love watching in him. He is giving me that passion in my old age," he further added. 

Early in the Virat's career, his over-aggressive approach came under a lot of criticism but it appears that de Villiers is the one to make him the composed player that he is right now. 

"Something he has learnt from me is maybe to control things a bit better, stay calm under pressure, and sometimes to hide the passion a little bit in order to make clear decisions and right decisions. ", he said.

"I think he is close to achieving that and, that is maybe something he has seen from me", he added.

De Villiers also added that he does not think of himself in the same way as he no longer plays in three formats of the game. 

"I don't think I can be the best batsman. I don't play all formats. He (Kohli) is definitely the best player in the world," the South African said.

"If you are in the top five in all the three formats, that's when you know you can really play the game," the 33-year old added.

The South African is close to accumulating 10,000 runs in Test cricket, having scored 8074 of them already, but this feat is no big thing to him.

"I mean no disrespect to anyone who has ever achieved that, but it means absolutely zero to me to achieve 10,000 runs. I don't care about that at all," he said.

The batsman has delayed his IPL start because of his back problems but he does not think to find recovery hard at 33.

"I think of (Rafael) Nadal, the tennis player, the way he's come back has inspired me a lot. He'd been out for quite a long time as well. But that's part of the game: you come and you go," he quoted.

De Villiers revealed he has never practised his unorthodox and chicky shots in nets. He feels that the shots come from his natural instincts.

"I feel it's something that comes naturally. It's almost like I've got to set my foundation and a platform to express myself at the end. Those things just came naturally to me over the years, I practice my shots, but I don't practice the silly, funny lap shots and things like that," he quoted.