Mumbai, May 31 (IANS) Former South Africa batter AB de Villiers said that Virat Kohli followed his heart to announce his retirement from Test cricket after contributing to the game for more than a decade and leaving behind a “great legacy”.

Ahead of the all-important five-match Test series against England, the former wicketkeeper-batter opined that youngsters need to step up on a “tough” tour in the absence of Kohli and former Test captain Rohit Sharma.

“I don’t know, he must have listened to his heart, and time for him to move on in his opinion, and he followed his gut feel. So I think he’s done a lot for crickets around the world over the years, and luckily we’ll still see him on the cricket field. He will be missed in Test matches, there’s no doubt about it, but he leaves a great legacy with a red ball,” De Villiers told reporters in Mumbai.

The 41-year-old lauded the platform provided by the IPL for the Indian talents to shine and named Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre as the prime examples of it.

With the England tour starting on June 20, the legendary batter feels if the players believe in themselves they can “achieve something special” on the English soil.

“Yes, it’s time for the younger guys to step up. We saw Shubman Gill taking on the responsibility. There’s lots of talent in India, and largely credit to the IPL for that. Really giving great exposure to some of the youngsters. At a very early age, we saw Vaibhav Suryavanshi this year, and many other youngsters that come in, and they look like Ayush Mhatre, too many to mention. They come in the first year, and they look very mature and ready to play cricket, and it’s a great platform for Indian cricket.

“So they’ve got to take some responsibility in England, it’ll be a tough test, but they have all the talent in the world, and if they believe, maybe they can achieve something special,” De Villiers said.

De Villiers also played cricket with the Mumbai wheelchair cricket team during a practice session at Islam Gymkhana in Marine Lines.

“My first reaction was just a feeling of gratitude, inspiration. Watching these guys on their wheelchairs, playing cricket with smiles on their faces, really enjoying it,” he shared his experience of playing with them.

“And it’s beautiful to see, and then something else came to mind, like really hoping that they will get more opportunity in the future, better facilities, sponsorships for equipment, and I would love to play a role in that. But I had a lot of fun with these guys, they’re all very talented cricketers, all have a great hand-eye coordination, and on top of it all, we just had a really enjoyable time together,” he added.

–IANS

ab/