Allan Donald: “I’d say Kohli because I feel from a red ball perspective if you bowl fuller and get tight on that fourth stump outside off stump, you can get him out”

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Legendary South Africa pace bowler Allan Donald has revealed that he would have loved to bowl against India captain Virat Kohli.

Donald’s comments come in the midst of India’s ongoing Test series against South Africa, where Kohli and Proteas batsman AB de Villiers have been leading the way with the bat.

De Villiers is averaging 50 after the first two Tests, while Kohli’s average shot up to 47.75 after he made a sensational 153 in the first innings of the second Test in Centurion.

While Donald believes Kohli and De Villiers are both highly skilled players, he admitted that he would prefer to bowl to the Indian skipper as he has pinpointed a weakness in his game.

“I’d say Kohli because I feel from a red ball perspective if you bowl fuller and get tight on that fourth stump outside off stump, you can get him out,” Donald told Sport24. “You can get more dots than you would with AB, which can frustrate him. He’s been caught behind before on that kind of ball and if his first 20 balls are there, he tends to find it hard to leave.”

Donald added that De Villiers’ style of batting would require an aggressive approach from bowlers, whereby they don’t back down and succumb to the pressure.

“AB wants to dominate every ball, which makes you doubt your lengths as a bowler,” the 51-year-old said. “We were talking about it in the IPL and (Australia’s) Mitchell Starc said the one thing you can’t afford to do is back off with your own aggression. If you keep coming and backing your instincts, you’ll have a bit of success.

“It’s a bit like when I was bowling to Lara. He had that genius and was relentless at putting you away. He had all the shots, quick hands and quick feet – but you always felt he had a ball with his name on it”.