Just instinct: Virat's new avatar better than 2016 peak Kohli, says De Villiers

AB de Villiers feels that Virat Kohli's current version is better than his peak in 2016. The Indian star has reinvented himself in the past year, playing more aggressively and freely and De Villiers claims that there is more to come from the Indian star.Virat Kohli has been striking at over 117 this year in ODIs (Courtesy: AFP)New Delhi,Oct 8, 2026 09:35 ISTRight after the recent Thiruvananthapuram ODI against the West Indies, Virat Kohli said that he has put himself in a new gauntlet, where he can still elevate his game to a new level.“I've got a challenge at this stage of my career to kind of up the ante and play a gear or two higher," said Kohli.For the fans who saw the destruction caused by him on that night, it will be music to their ears. On his way to scaling mount 15,000 ODI runs, the Indian star took apart the Windies bowling with ease. He hit 10 fours and nine sixes on his way to scoring 139 off just 88 balls.This showed a significant change in approach for Kohli, who is now just playing one format internationally and the IPL. It wasn't evident last year after announcing his Test retirement as he had two ducks in Australia and salvaged the series with a fifty. But during the South Africa series, something clicked and the change was in full force. Since the start of the three matches against the Proteas, Kohli has amassed 854 runs from his 12 ODI innings at a strike rate of 117.63. His unbeaten 139 in the opening ODI against the West Indies in Trivandrum was the latest standout performance in a remarkable run of form.In fact, Kohli has piled up 825 runs across his last 10 innings alone. That tally puts him among the most prolific 10-innings stretches in ODI history, with only six such sequences producing more runs. Remarkably, two of those six belong to Kohli himself, coming during his sensational runs in 2012 and 2018. So is this version of Kohli better than his prime? Well, AB de Villiers believes it to be the case. 'RELAXED AND COMPLETELY FREE'Speaking to Sports Today in an exclusive chat, De Villiers said that the current avatar is a better version because of the fact that Kohli seems to be relaxed and compleltely free.The South African legend said he show glimpses of the current version during the Champions Trophy 2025, but felt the Indian star got stuck and went back to the old habits."Yeah, that's a good question. It's difficult to say. I think it is a better version because of the way he's so relaxed. And out there in the middle, you can almost see he's completely free," said De Villiers."He showed signs of that at the last ICC Champions Trophy in the UAE. I started seeing him play a different role, and then he got stuck a little bit again, going back to old habits, and then just sort of let go completely again."MORE TO COME FROM KOHLIThe period from 2016 to 2018 is considered the peak period in Kohli's career, hitting with a strike-rate close to 100 and amassing a total of 3401 runs from 66 matches. During this time, Kohli hit a total of 43 sixes.Compare this to his current year, and you can see the difference. The strike-rate is 117.94, the highest he has had in his career so far and has hit 17 sixes.However, De Villiers feels that fans are seeing just the trailer of the dangerous side of Kohli. One that he has known for a long time."But that's the way I love Virat. And I've always, in interviews, said that there's a side of him that people don't know. And I think we're seeing that side more than ever now, where he's just completely focused almost on other people.""And he realises that all he can do is just go out there and express his talents and let the fans and the people around the world enjoy that for one last time, or for the next two years or three or five years. I don't know how long," said De Villiers."But I love seeing this side of him. And I think it must be an incredible experience to share a dressing room with him as a youngster now. I think they are learning from him more than ever, being in this state of mind."NO OVERTHINKING, JUST INSTINCTDe Villiers feels that Kohli is now not overthinking the game and going with his instinct more than ever, making him unstoppable in his opinion."But yes, I think because he's so free, he's making sounder decisions out there. He's not so intense, he's not overthinking the game. He's going a lot on gut feel, it seems, and generally, the gut feel is right. Your instinct takes over, and he's played this game all his life.""So when Virat plays with his instinct, he's pretty much unstoppable. So, well, it's quite scary to think of where this will go and how good and how big of an impact he's going to have for Team India in the 2027 World Cup," said De Villiers.Kohli finds himself in the top four for most runs in ODIs this year with 552 from nine matches and it does seem like the new version is here to stay. If De Villiers is true and there is more to come from Kohli, Indian team fans will be eager to see him back in action, which will happen now in New Zealand.- Ends