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Cricket Players'I am thinking 600-plus runs from Virat this year': AB de Villiers expects Kohli to burn up the charts in IPL 2022
Virat Kohli's former teammate AB de Villiers has made a big prediction on the former RCB skipper's run-tally for the IPL 2022 season.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore will be aiming to secure their first win of the 2022 Indian Premier League when they meet the Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday. The Faf du Plessis-led side faced a five-wicket loss in their opening game of the season against the Punjab Kings despite putting on a big total of 205/2 in 20 overs. As such, the RCB management would be hoping for an improved bowling performance when they take on the Shreyas Iyer-led KKR at the DY Patil Stadium.
The RCB franchise this year – like all other franchises – saw a revamp in squad, thanks to the mega auction preceding IPL 2022. However, one of the players that remains absent from the tournament is former South Africa star AB de Villiers, who had announced his retirement from the game following the end of the previous edition of IPL. While ‘ABD’, as he is fondly known, is no longer an active player, he continues to support the RCB from afar, and on Wednesday, he made a big prediction on his former teammate and good friend Virat Kohli.
Kohli has been going through a rough patch with the bat but de Villiers believes that the right-handed batter will score “600+” runs this season.
"Everyone knows about Faf du Plessis coming in as captain. I think the most exciting thing for me is Virat not being captain and releasing a bit of the pressure, really just going out there and freeing up
“I am expecting a very big season from Virat. I am thinking 600+ runs from him this year,” said AB de Villiers on YouTube channel ‘VUSport Streaming’.
The former South African batter also mentioned that he expects some RCB individuals – majorly youngsters – to emerge in the upcoming edition.
“He (Kohli) will be in Faf's ear, but Faf is also very experienced as well. He has got a good cricketing training on him and he would allow Virat and some of the youngsters to just go and free up, and just enjoy the IPL. I don't know what to expect (from RCB) but I expect some individuals to really rise in this IPL from the RCB setup,” said de Villiers.
