Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: For over a decade, the sight of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers sprinting between the wickets in red and gold was the heartbeat of the Indian Premier League (IPL). While their individual records are peerless, the duo’s lack of an IPL trophy together remains one of cricket’s greatest paradoxes. Now, ahead of the 2026 season, De Villiers has offered a poignant reflection on why their greatest strength, an obsessive hunger for victory, might have also been their “downfall”.The South African icon revealed that both he and Kohli shared a “naughty” trait: they simply wanted to win too much. This intense emotional investment often made the game a deeply personal burden.
Speaking on the Mbangwa Media YouTube channel, De Villiers explained that their bond was built on a shared DNA of extreme competitiveness. Once they joined forces at RCB in 2011, they realised they were cut from the same cloth. “We realised we played a similar kind of game, had a similar kind of outlook on the game, similar kind of competitiveness, and really enjoyed batting together, running between the wickets, understanding of cricket and just wanting to win,” De Villiers stated.However, that elite mentality had a flip side. De Villiers admitted that their inability to detach from the result often worked against them, leading to a mental exhaustion that made every loss feel like a personal failure.“Both of us were probably naughty of wanting it too much, as maybe our biggest downfall of our careers is wanting the team to win too much, and it sort of affected us so much that we would take it personally when we lose,” he confessed.Last season, Kohli finally won the elusive IPL title. “So that’s maybe… well, at least he got some trophies. I didn’t get a lot,” De Villiers added with a touch of characteristic humility.As RCB prepare for a title-defending campaign in 2026, De Villiers’ words serve as a reminder of the thin line between passion and pressure. For years, the Kohli-ABD era was defined by this “naughty” desire to win, a trait that made them legends, even if it occasionally made the weight of the game too heavy to bear.
