VIDEO: South Africa hail Indians as 'biggest fans' in cricket

Bengaluru, Oct 16: South Africa's One Day International (ODI) captain AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy and others have heaped praise on passionate Indian fans for showing love to the Proteas. (The video is at the end of this article).

The South Africans, who are currently in India on a 72-day long tour, have admired the thousands of local fans and even the security personnel (taking selfies with players) who follow them wherever they go.

AB de Villiers is seen here celebrating his century against India in the 1st ODI in Kanpur on October 11

South Africa and India will play the 3rd ODI in the 5-match series on Sunday (October 18) in Rajkot. The visitors have so far played in Delhi, Dharamsala, Cuttack, Kolkata, Kanpur and Indore.

They won the Twenty20 International series 2-0 and the ODI rubber stands at 1-1. After the 50-over contests, come 4 Tests.

De Villiers called India a "special place" and his team-mates spoke about the fans in their "India Tour Diaries".

"You will struggle to find a following for any sport anywhere in the world that could compete with India's love for cricket.

"Thousands upon thousands of passionate supporters stand around hotels, airports and at stadiums just to catch a glimpse of their cricketing heroes. The Castle Lager Proteas weighed in with their thoughts on this cricket-crazy nation," the video says.

According to South Africans, Indians are cricket's "Biggest Fans" and Bangladesh come second. Most of the South Africans agree that De Villiers is the most popular and followed cricketer in India after the home boys.

The exploits of De Villiers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have made him famous, more than some of the Indian batsmen.

Watch the amazing video of Indian fans' love for South Africa