Virat Kohli spat at me during a Test, apologised after AB de Villiers confronted him: Dean Elgar's shocker
Dean Elgar reveals an alleged spitting incident involving Virat Kohli during a Test match, with Kohli later apologizing two years after being confronted by AB de Villiers.
FollowFormer South Africa captain Dean Elgar has shockingly revealed an incident involving Indian batsman Virat Kohli, alleging that Kohli "spat at him" during a Test match. Elgar stated that Kohli apologized two years later after being confronted by their Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate AB de Villiers. Elgar retired from international cricket after South Africa's two-Test series against India at home in December, where he stood in for regular skipper Temba Bavuma.
Though Elgar did not specify the series, believed to be South Africa's tour of India in 2015, he acknowledged on a podcast that he had confrontations with Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin.
"All the time," Elgar said on 'Banter with The Boys' podcast sitting alongside former South African all-rounder Chris Morris and rugby player Jean de Villiers.
Elgar then said, "In India...Those wickets were jokes."
"And I came into bat and I was actually like holding my own against Ashwin and what's his name Jajeja… ja-ja-jajeja, ('Jadeja', said someone in the background) and Kohli, he like spat at me," Elgar said.
"I said to him, 'if you do that, I'll f*****g *** you with this bat'," Elgar claimed.
"Did he understand that word?" asked the podcast host referring to the beeped out word.
"Yes, he did because (AB) de Villiers was his teammate at RCB so he understood. I said 'if you do that, I'll absolutely knock you out'," Elgar claimed.
Following the revelation of the incident, the former South African opener disclosed that AB de Villiers, his close friend and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate, addressed the matter with Virat Kohli. However, Elgar did not specify the exact timing of the discussion between de Villiers and Kohli regarding the incident.
"Anyway, so, realised that de Villiers found out what he did and went up to him and said 'bud, why are you spitting at my teammate bud? That's not on' and two years later, he (Kohli) calls me aside playing (in) South Africa and said 'can we go have a drink at the end of the series?"
"'I want to just apologise for my actions'. Two years later in South Africa, he says he wants to apologise for what he did. We had a drink, (the) punchline is we drank till 3 am in the morning. This is when he used to drink, now he is obviously converted a bit," Elgar added.
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When questioned about his experience playing his final Test for South Africa against notable figures like Kohli and Ashwin, Elgar responded with enthusiasm, describing it as "awesome." Notably, Kohli's demeanor stood out during Elgar's final Test innings at Cape Town in December 2023.
After Kohli took a catch off Elgar's bat, he refrained from celebrating and instead embraced the South African as he made his way back to the pavilion. In a gesture of goodwill, Kohli even presented one of his Test jerseys to the Proteas player.
