AB de Villiers responds to Virat Kohli's special Hall of Fame tribute
AB de Villiers has responded to the heart-touching letter that Virat Kohli wrote for him after he was honoured by ICC.
In a video posted on Instagram, AB de Villiers thanked ICC for his induction into the prestigious ICC Hall of Fame.
The South African stalwart was one of the three players in the latest class of ICC Hall of Fame inductees alongside Alastair Cook and Neetu David.
AB de Villiers inducted in ICC Hall of Fame:
AB de Villiers: ICC Hall of Fame 2024 inductee
He went on to state that the honour reminded him of the hard work behind his success as an international cricketer.
Having retired from international cricket in 2018, de Villiers boasts a batting average of more than 50 in both Test and ODI cricket, and has a whopping tally of 20014 international runs, second to only Jacques Kallis among South Africans.
"I want to thank all of you for supporting me and obviously a big thanks to the ICC," de Villiers said in the video posted on his Instagram handle. "It's a great honour for me guys, thank you very much to the ICC, to all my fans out there, all the supporters over the years.
"I get very shy with these kind of things, so that's why I don't go on about it too much. But yes, obviously it's a very proud moment and it sort of reminds me of all the hard work that's gone into getting to moments like this."
As a tribute, a special letter was penned by Virat Kohli to the South Africa star after his induction.
The Indian legend hailed de Villiers as "the most talented cricketer I have played with" and further reserved special words for him in a heart-touching letter.
De Villiers responded to Kohli's letter in his video, stating that it made him very proud to have Kohli write a letter for him.
"It's really special for me and obviously Virat as well, thank you very much for the kind words. What I'm really proud about is Virat speaking about me always putting the team first."
"Always being prepared to do everything I can to have an impact on the team. And that's how I want to be remembered by, not by my stats or my records. I want to be remembered as a guy who contributed to the team and always put the team first. I'm very, very proud about that and I will not shy away from that. That's certainly the way I played my cricket and it was always a priority to me."