AB de Villiers's first impression of Virat Kohli was of a 'cocky youngster'

South Africa batter Ab de Villiers revealed that his first impression of Virat Kohli was of a "cocky youngster". De Villiers was a major part of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) since 2011, under Kohli's captaincy. "We ran into each other few times before we properly met.

I knew about him, he knew about me. I said it a few times that I thought he was a bit cocky when he was a youngster, so that was my initial impression," said de Villiers on an RCB podcast. "Even though I could see that he has got respect and the basics are in place, I felt like he has got a bit of swagger going in.

So I didn't hold it against him because you need it at that point of age. We had a really short discussion. I didn't give him any compliments or anything like that, but I remember clearly at Wanderers, when I got picked up by RCB...it was a nice discussion of looking forward to play together.

"Once I got to Bangalore...the connection just kicked off straight away. Our proper friendship started when I started playing for RCB in 2011. That's probably when we started becoming good friends.

I am a kind of a guy where I don't really keep in touch but for some reason with Virat it just happens, so we stay in touch. It's easy as he is on telly (television) the whole time when I am at home," he added. The former Proteas batter further said that he sees Virat as a South African cricketer as they both share many common basics.

"We both have a lot of basics in common. The way we play the game is quite similar. He is a fighter and I sort of relate to the way he plays the game...," said De Villiers.