'He never speaks like that, knew something was brewing up': Kohli gets emotional about ABD

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers formed a very formidable partnership while playing together for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The duo has won many matches together but failed to win a single IPL title together. Ahead of the IPL 2022 season, AB de Villiers announced that he will no longer be part of the RCB team as he decided to hang up his boots bringing an end to his glittering career with the Bangalore franchise. The RCB social media team on Tuesday uploaded a video in which Virat Kohli can be heard speaking about how AB de Villiers conveyed his message about quitting RCB ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) new season.

Virat Kohli talks about AB de Villiers decision to quit Royal Challengers Bangalore

In a video shared by RCB, Virat Kohli spoke about how much he missed AB De Villiers and also spoke about how the South African informed him that he is going to quit playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL. He said

"I clearly remember when he finally decided to finally call it a day. He sent me a voice note and I still remember we were coming back from EC and I got this voice note while I was driving back home. I remember that I listened to it and Anushka (Sharma) was with me and I just looked at her (in disbelief)," 

He further added "My face fell, then I showed her the message and the VO. The first thing she said was 'don't tell me'. She knew because I kind of had the impression. It was a strange feeling, I got very emotional and the VO was very emotional when he said, 'look, I dont have it anymore in me.' I have shared so many moments with him the highs and lows, he has been right next to me."

"If we (RCB) manage to win the title, I would be very emotional thinking of him first. Rather than what I would experience, I would actually think of him of how much it would still mean to him. He is a special human being. I don't think there is one person who can say AB has not contributed in our lives." 

Royal Challengers Bangalore make losing start to IPL 2022 campaign

Royal Challengers Bangalore under the captaincy of Faf du Plessis made a losing start to their campaign after being beaten by Punjab Kings in their opening match. After being asked to bat first by Punjab Kings RCB piled on 205/2 with du Plessis scoring 88 runs off 57 runs during his knock. Kohli found his scoring touch with an unbeaten 41 runs off 29 balls while Dinesh Karthik played a cameo knock of 32 runs off 14 balls. 

For Punjab Kings, Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan gave Punjab a strong start by scoring 71 runs off 43 balls for the first wicket stand. Agarwal was dismissed in the eighth over for the score of 32 runs. Dhawan looked in good touch before being dismissed for 43 runs off 29 balls. Overseas imports, Bhanuka Rajapaksa scored 43 runs off 22 balls, while Liam Livingstone scored 19 runs off 10 balls. Shahrukh Khan and Odean Smith remained unbeaten on 24 and 25 runs respectively to take Punjab through to the victory with five wickets and six balls remaining in their hands.