Mumbai: Former South Africa and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter AB de Villiers has predicted a bumper outing for former teammate Virat Kohli in the ongoing IPL 2022 season. Kohli has been going through a rough patch with the bat but de Villiers believes that the right-handed batter will score 600 plus runs for the red army.
For the past three season of IPL Kohli scored 464 in IPL 2019, 466 in IPL 2020, and 405 in IPL 2021, which was his last season as a skipper for the red army. Kohli also holds the record for the most runs in one season of IPL when he amassed 973 runs in IPL 2016.
RCB is without De Villiers service in this season as the latter announced his retirement from the game after the IPL 2021 season. However, the former RCB player has still continued to support the RCB army.
“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 shared his expectations from the players at the Royal camp, and mentioned that he expects some RCB youngsters to develop themselves wellin 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.
RCB register their first win of the season against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 3 wickets. The Faf du Plessis led side will next face Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday (April 5) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
