Former South Africa and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter AB De Villiers believes Indian superstar Virat Kohli should focus on playing smart cricket as the likes of Phil Salt will ease pressure on him up the order at RCB.

Kohli's strike rate was coming under the scanner in the last few seasons despite him being one of the most consistent RCB batters and De Villiers vote of confidence would certainly boost his morale.

"Salt is one of the most attacking players we've ever seen. I think he's going to take a lot of pressure off Virat. Virat needs to continue what he's been doing for so many years...control the game, play smart cricket. He's got the best instinct of any player out there. He knows when to up the ante a bit and when to lower it."

The South African legend also felt Kohli needs to keep an eye on RCB's tendency to collapse.

"Virat needs to be the captain of the batting department in this tournament and really just keep things together, play smart cricket to make sure they don't find those collapses in the batting order."

With regards to RCB's new captain Rajat Patidar, De Villiers felt his biggest challenge would be taking on the mantle which was left vacant by the likes of Kohli and Faf Du Plessis.

"His biggest challenge will be insecurity, stepping into the big boots of the past captains like Faf and Virat.. having Virat around and constantly almost doubting yourself.

Talking about the explosive rankings of the JioStar, De Villiers felt he was amazed how Narine was more explosive in the middle overs from 7-16 than in the Powerplay.

"Sunil Narine more explosive in middle overs than powerplay: That is crazy. The only thing that makes sense is that He has struggled sometimes against fast bowlers when they come in with the new ball. When they bowl hard lengths to him and they find it difficult to get it away. When the shininess of the new ball fades, I can imagine him being very dangerous in the middle overs. But I can't still believe that his strike rate will be higher in the middle overs than in the powerplay," he added.

De Villiers was surprised about some of the explosive rankings.

" A lot of them make sense, but some of them don't. Porel more explosive than Jaiswal doesn't make sense. Patidar does make sense as he is a smart player in the middle overs. He outskills Nicholas Pooran and takes calculated risks. Some no surprises at all, Jake Fraser McGurk is the cowboy from Down Under and ofcourse Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma are explosive players in the powerplay but Jake is right up there," he added.