'I'm really proud...': AB de Villiers responds to Kohli's special Hall of Fame tribute

New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS) South African great AB de Villiers, who was one of the three players in the latest class of ICC Hall of Fame inductees alongside Alastair Cook and Neetu David, responded to the heart-touching letter that Virat Kohli wrote for him after he was honoured by ICC.

After De Villiers was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, his very good friend Kohli, penned a heartfelt note to the hard-hitting sensation. The letter read, "The Hall of Fame is a representation of your impact on the game, and yours has been truly unique. People have always spoken about your ability, and rightly so. You are the most talented cricketer I have played with, the absolute number one."

In a video posted on Instagram, AB de Villiers thanked ICC for his induction into the prestigious ICC Hall of Fame and also responded to Kohli's letter, stating that it made him very proud to have Kohli write a letter for him.

"I want to thank all of you for supporting me and obviously a big thanks to the ICC. 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," de Villiers said in the video posted on his Instagram handle.

"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," he added.

De Villiers, who retired from international cricket in 2018, 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.

"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," he concluded.

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