New Delhi, May 19: Former Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson praised South African star AB de Villiers and rated the right-handed batter has the best batsman to have bowled.

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The 34-year-old cricketer retired from international cricket last year and his now playing for Kings XI Punjab in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Johnson was quoted by cricket.com.au as saying,"AB de Villiers was the guy who really stood out for me. AB was a guy that was above everyone else for a long period; just how calm he was, he had all the shots."

The fourth all-time Test wicket-taker Australian bowler also praised the new generation of great batsmen, such as Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Joe Root.

"Smithy (Steve Smith) was always hard work in the nets. I never really got to play against him, maybe one or two games. At the WACA bowling against him he played really well," Johnson added.

About England's Joe Root and New Zealander Kane Williamson the Australian quick said, "Root was definitely a challenge, and Williamson, I didn't get to see enough of him, but what I did see at the end of my career, he was on his game and really hard to bowl to. He didn't really nick the ball and if he did he had good hands and it always dropped short."

Johnson aslo praised Indian batting sensation Virat Kohli's competitiveness and his emergance as Australia's new nemesis.

"Virat was always competitive. You always had that challenge coming up against him, that you could have a bit of a go at him and he'd lose it for a couple of balls but then he'd get back on target. He played exceptionally well against us in Australia (during the 2014-15 summer)," he further added.

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