IPL 2022: AB de Villiers predicts Virat Kohli's runs tally, RCB say 'we second this'

Legendary South African batter AB de Villiers, who announced his retirement from IPL last season, has predicted the number of runs former teammate Virat Kohli will score after the Indian batter stepped down from the RCB captaincy. "Mr 360" believes the reduced pressure of handling the captaincy will help Kohli to have a fantastic season with the bat as he believes that the 33-year old can score 600+ runs in IPL 2022.

AB de Villiers believes Virat Kohli will score 600+ runs in IPL 2022

While speaking on the YouTube channel VUSport Streaming, AB de Villiers said, "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."

Kohli and de Villiers developed an outstanding camaraderie after sharing the RCB dressing room for several seasons, with the two also praising each other for their skillsets on several occasions. While the South African legend has retired from cricket, his love and support for both RCB and Kohli is evident as seen in the Tweet above.

Even though RCB lost their opening game of the IPL 2022 season against the Punjab Kings, Kohli had a good start to the new season as he scored 41 runs not out of just 29 deliveries. With RCB set to face the Kolkata Knight Riders in their next game on Wednesday at the DY Patil Stadium, fans will hope that their former skipper can score many more runs in the matches to come.

Meanwhile, de Villiers also commented upon how the appointment of his compatriot Faf du Plessis as the new skipper of RCB would help the likes of Kohli and the youngsters to play their natural game and enjoy the IPL. "He (Kohli) will be in Faf's ear, but Faf is also very experienced as well. He has got 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," added the South African batting legend.