Disgraced Australia Steve Smith begins comeback in Global T20 Canada league

New Delhi, May 12: Virat Kohli's natural talent makes him a cricketing equivalent of Roger Federer while Steve Smith's mental fortitude matches that of Rafael Nadal, said South African swashbuckler AB de Villiers comparing the two contemporary greats.

In an instagram chat with former Zimbabwe seamer Pommie Mbangwa, de Villiers spoke about the two batsmen, who are easily the game's biggest crowd-pullers right now.

"It's a difficult one, but Virat is definitely the more natural ball-striker, there's no doubt about that," de Villiers said during his interaction on 'Sports Hurricane'.

"In tennis terms, I'd say he's more like a (Roger) Federer whereas Smith is like a (Rafael) Nadal. Smith is mentally very strong and figures out a way of scoring runs - he doesn't look natural, but he ends up writing records and doing amazing things at the crease.

"I think mentally, Smith is one of the best I have ever seen. Virat has also scored runs all over the world and won games under pressure," de Villiers,himself a modern day great, said.

De Villiers also felt that when it comes to chasing, Kohli is a shade ahead of Tendulkar.

"Sachin is a role model for both of us (him and Kohli). The way he stood out in his era, the things he achieved and with the grace he did all that is a great example for everyone," de Villiers said.

"And I think Virat will also say that he set the standards for us to follow.

"But personally, in a chase, I'd say Virat is the best I've seen in my life. Sachin was amazing in all formats and all situations, but Virat comes out on top while chasing."

The world knows Kohli as a prolific cricketer but for de Villiers, he is a friend, who has interests beyond cricket and is spiritual at one level.

"He's much deeper than just a cricket player...I think most people realise after a while that there's more to life than just cricket," de Villiers said.

"...Virat's always been a thinker, he experiments (with) a lot of things, he loves trying new things out - gym wise, what he puts in his mouth. He thinks a lot about life after life - what's to come, the different religions, we talk about everything."

De Villiers said that he also shares a great bond with Indian captain's actor wife Anushka Sharma, conversing on a lot of issues including family life.

"We go pretty deep and his missus as well, Anushka, we have very deep conversations, which is fantastic. We talk about children and family. We're waiting for that first little Kohli to come.

"It's a good friendship and we always find a way to talk about cricket as well, but 90 per cent of the time we talk about other stuff. It's refreshing and in the middle of a very intense IPL tournament," he shared.

IPL, for de Villiers, is not just a tournament but also about friendships that he cherishes.

"Obviously, when it comes to the IPL in India, it's been more than friendship," De Villiers said, when asked who his best friends in cricket are.

"Virat obviously - not only during the IPL, we chat throughout the year, which means it's different than just the IPL or cricketing friendship.

New Delhi, Jun 12: The BCCI on Friday called off Indian cricket team's short tour of Zimbabwe in August due to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement was on expected lines after Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Thursday that India's limited overs tour in June-July was postponed indefinitely.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced that the Indian Cricket Team will not travel to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe owing to the current threat of COVID-19," BCCI secetary Jay Shah said in a statement.

"Team India was originally scheduled to travel to the island nation from 24th June 2020 for three ODIs and as many T20Is and to Zimbabwe for a series comprising three ODIs starting 22nd August 2020," Shah added.

The Indian team is yet to resume training and the camp is unlikely to take place before July. The players will take around six weeks to be match-ready.

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.