A day after AB de Villiers took a shocking U-turn on his earlier revelation, that Virat Kohli had missed the opening two Test matches against England as he and his wife Anushka Sharma are expecting their second child, the former South Africa captain issued a fresh apology during a live show on YouTube as the India batter remained unavailable for the last three games against Ben Stokes’ men.

The speculations were right as Kohli continued to remain away from cricketing action, thereby making himself unavailable for the final three matches of the five-Test series against England due to personal reasons.

“Virat Kohli will remain unavailable for selection for the remainder of the series due to personal reasons. The Board fully respects and supports Mr. Kohli’s decision,” read the BCCI statement which revealed the squad for the remaining matches against England.

Speaking on Kohli’s absence during his YouTube show on Saturday, De Villiers apologised to his former Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate and his family for his “blunder” in his previous show and called for privacy on the matter.

“My friend Virat Kohli is still not available. I cry out to everybody to give him the privacy that he deserves. Family comes first. No one knows what exactly is going on. I am asking all of us to respect that. I did bit of a blunder in my previous show and I apologise to the Kohli family for that,” he said.

“Just not nice. I shared information that was not confirmed at all so. I am begging everyone out there to respect him and his family and his private time. Hopefully, we will see Virat back, happy and scoring runs. Like he always does.”

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What was AB de Villiers’ ‘blunder’?

As speculations were rife on Kohli’s absence from the ongoing England Test series, De Villiers, in response to a fan’s question on his YouTube show, revealed that the former India captain was fine and that he was with his family because he and his wife are expecting their second child.

“All I know is he is fine. He is spending a bit of time with his family, that is the reason he is missing the first two Test matches. I am not going to confirm anything else. I cannot wait to see him back. He is fine, he is doing well,” de Villiers had said.

“Yes, his second child is on the way. Yes, it’s family time and things are important to him. If you are not true and genuine to yourself, you lose track of what you are here for. I think most people’s priority is family. You can’t judge Virat for that.”

Kohli had arrived in Hyderabad for the opening match against England last month, before leaving for home three days before the start of the Test series. The BCCI release had stated that he had a word with India captain Rohit Sharma and the team management emphasising that “while representing the country has always been his top priority, certain personal situations demand his presence and undivided attention.”

Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has criticized Test series being shortened, such as the recently concluded two Tests between India and South Africa.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, de Villiers, who donned the Proteas cap across 114 Tests, pressed that for the longest format to thrive ‘something has to change’.

“I am not happy that there is not a third Test. You have to blame the T20 cricket going around the world for that,” he said. “I do not know whom to blame, but I sense something is wrong. If you want to see all the teams compete and see who is the best Test team in the world, something has to change.”

Cricket South Africa have been under the scanner since they announced a second string squad for the three Test series in New Zealand in February, with majority of their players having committed to playing in the SA20 League that begins Wednesday, January 10.

“It (South Africa’s Test squad for New Zealand) has sent shockwaves around the cricketing world and has made it clear that Test cricket is under pressure, for that matter even ODI cricket and the whole system is turning around T20 cricket,” de Villiers said. “The players, the board and coaches will turn towards where there is more money. You cannot blame them for thinking about their future with their family.”

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Cape Town pitch, stock-standard

De Villiers also came in defence of the Newlands Test match pitch that saw the game being completed inside five sessions.

“It was a pretty stock-standard wicket, in my opinion. I remember jumping around there on day one,” he said. “If you can just get through the first session on day one, it gets easier.”

The former Proteas batter raised questions of the batting prowess on offer from both the teams and how the bowlers encashed on the opportunity.

“If you see the players playing their shots and not hanging around, they were doing well. I remember Ben Stokes scoring a double-hundred there. I scored some hundreds there. You cannot allow bowlers like Vernon Philander, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada to keep bowling on off stump,” he added.