AB de Villiers took on the critics of Virat Kohli after the latter played a 33-ball 62-run knock against Chennai Super Kings during Royal Challengers' 2-run win at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, May 3.

Kohli, who opened the innings with Jacob Bethell, batted at a strike rate of 187.88 to provide RCB with a quickfire start. He and Bethell (55 off 33 balls) shared a 97-run partnership. Kohli was aggressive in his approach and smacked the CSK bowlers around the park for five sixes and as many fours to decorate his innings.

After Kohli's magnificent knock, de Villiers, a former teammate of Kohli at RCB, blasted the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag, who had criticised the Indian batter, terming him too slow for T20 cricket.

Legendary de Villiers, known for his 360-degree batting, shared a video on Instagram that showed criticism from Gavaskar and Sehwag. They had questioned Kohli's strike rate. Sehwag even slammed Kohli for scoring the joint-slowest hundred in IPL history. Gavaskar, too, resorted to sharp criticism of Kohli over his scoring pace.

“Virat is always there. He is Mr. Safety for RCB," de Villiers said.

"When he is there, you don’t have to fear. Never fear when Virat is near. That is the story. Nothing has ever changed, and what I want to tell all of you media people, I haven’t forgotten. I have the brain of an elephant. To all my journalist friends out there, I love you guys. But remember when you said Virat bats too slow, right? Virat is there batting at almost a 200 strike rate last night. Eat that," said the former South Africa captain.

Kohli is currently holding the Orange Cap for scoring 505 runs from 11 matches at an average of 63.13 and a strike rate of 143.47. His tally of seven fifty-plus scores is his third-best in an IPL season, following 11 such scores in 2016 and eight in 2023.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from IPL 2025,IPL Orange Cap, IPL Purple Cap, Most Sixes in IPL, Cricket, Sports and around the world.