Considered one of the greatest cricketers in history, Virat Kohli has won several matches for India since his debut in 2008. Despite his size, the 34-year-old has come under a lot of criticism, especially during his time as captain. , where he failed to win a single ICC trophy. Under his leadership, India reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017, but lost the final to arch-rivals Pakistan.
Then, under his leadership in the 2019 World Cup, India suffered a semi-final defeat to New Zealand, followed by a runner-up finish in the 2021 Test World Cup. In his last tournament as captain, India failed to even qualify for the knockout stages of the T20 World Cup in 2021.
In 2020 and 2021, Kohli even saw a drastic drop in form and thereafter the batter constantly fell victim to criticism. However, since handing over the role to Rohit Sharma, Kohli has re-found his form and also the top run-scorer in the 2022 T20 World Cup, where India lost to England in the semi-finals.
Dhoni played his last match for India in July 2019. Under his leadership, India won the 2007 World Twenty20, 2011 World Cup, 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, 2010 and 2016 Asia Cup, 2010 and 2011 ICC Test Mace and also the 2013 ODI Championship. The wicketkeeper-batsman will once again take the field in IPL 2023, where he represents CSK.
Kohli learned the craft of captaincy from none other than MS Dhoni, from whom he took over the captaincy, first in red ball cricket and then in the limited overs format. During a candid interaction on the RCB Podcast, Kohli opened up about his time playing under Dhoni’s captaincy and also opened up about their comfortable relationship that made his transition to captaincy very easy.
“The reality of the situation was that WC chose me. It wasn’t the other way around. When you consider that as someone who was 23, I was always under his wing as vice-captain. I was always having conversations with him about what he could do, my suggestions. I was always his right-hand man. It also helped that I played the winning strokes. He knew I understood where the game was going and what I needed to do. And I also gave him many inputs in the field. I was never someone who he just stood and threw the ball back,” he said.
“I always went to him when the game was tight. I always had a feel for the game. I never looked at the scoreboard and thought ‘so many runs, so many balls’. I thought what can we do to break the partnership, how he behaves the field, how our bowlers bowl and things like that. He understood that early. From 2012 I was groomed as the next guy to take over. I always had and will have huge respect for him. How he captained the team and how long he played for the team. I never had any bad intentions with MS.
“I never felt like I should be there (in his place). I really respected the fact that he has so much trust in me and I can go and talk to him about anything,” he added.
Pointing out that when he took over the reins of captaincy, there was never any awkwardness, Kohli explained: “When I became captain, it was the same. He was giving advice all the time and I was able to tell him ‘listen, I don’t want to use it in this moment. Let’s go ahead and use this plan.” It was very clear and simple. There was never any trouble. That was an amazing transition.”
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