Retired South African batsman Dean Elgar shared an incident about his first encounter with Indian cricketer Virat Kohli on the Betway South Africa podcast. Elgar claimed that Kohli spat at him during his first tour of India. He remembered the story of their first on-field meeting, stating that he had jokingly threatened to use his bat against Kohli during that incident.
“I came into bat and, I was actually like holding my own against Ashwin and what’s his name Jeja, Jeja, Jeja (Ravindra Jadeja) and Kohli spat at me. I said to him if you do that, I’ll ** you with this bat,” Elgar spoke on Banter with The Boys podcast.
When questioned about whether Kohli was familiar with the local slang, Elgar mentioned that Kohli was aware of it because he had AB de Villiers as his teammate at the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
“Yes, he did because de Villiers was his teammate at RCB, so he understood. And I said if you do that, I’ll ** on this field, I’ll absolutely knock you out. And then [he said] ‘Hey ** you, ** you’ (mimicking Kohli), barking up the wrong tree. Anyways, we are in India so you have to be a little bit cautious,” he further added.
Dean Elgar further explained that AB de Villiers intervened during the Test match, addressing the incident with Virat Kohli. The currently retired batter said that de Villiers played a crucial role in resolving the matter, and Kohli eventually called him a couple of years later to offer an apology when India toured South Africa.
Elgar said, “De Villiers found out what he did, and went up to him and asked ‘Why are you spitting at my teammate?’ Two years later in South Africa, he called me and asked if he could go with me for a drink after the series. He said he wanted to apologize for his actions.”
“We drank till 3 and ya, that was my first encounter with Kohli,” Elgar concluded his story.
