Two players who have defined this era of cricket for India are undoubtedly Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. Kohli took over the captaincy from the latter in Tests back in 2014/15 and in limited overs cricket in the middle of 2016.
Both of them have been responsible for grooming certain players in the team and here is a comparison of the best three players they have groomed:
MS Dhoni’s Dynamos:
Leaving out the fact that Dhoni was responsible for a lot of Kohli’s rise in international cricket, we take a look at the other players who have flourished under the wicket-keeper batsman:
Rohit Sharma:
Rohit Sharma has gone on to become one of the best players of his generation and he got his big break playing under MS Dhoni. Rohit and Dhoni also finished the last game against the Lankans in style.
Rohit is a class player who warrants his place easily when on form. Dhoni has stuck by him during hard times and he is repaying his faith multiple fold.
Ravichandran Ashwin:
Ashwin was another player who flourished under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. Dhoni was able to make Ashwin into one of the best bowlers in world cricket and Ashwin has himself credited the legend with helping him become the player he is.
Ashwin is a supreme talent in the sub-continent and has Dhoni to praise for many of his stumpings and even his batting improvement over the years.
Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina:
Both Jadeja and Raina thrived equally under Dhoni’s captaincy. Though Raina is out of the squad now, he played his best cricket for the country under Dhoni. Jadeja went from strength to strength, starting off as a batting all-rounder to now being a bowling all-rounder, all under Dhoni’s leadership.
Raina and Jadeja both also played under Dhoni at CSK and went on to define his generation of cricketers – fast between the wickets, excellent fielders and aggressive limited overs batsmen.
Notable names: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara
***
Virat Kohli’s Vikings:
Virat Kohli played all his cricket under Dhoni’s leadership, so he was able to learn from the best. Kohli now helms the team and is grooming a set of players to the way he sees fit. Here are three players who are thriving under him.
Jasprit Bumrah:
Bumrah has been in excellent form and Kohli has admitted to being a big fan of the bowler. The Gujarati lad has made himself a household name thanks to his fiery Yorkers and Kohli is more than happy to hand the ball to him during the death.
Bumrah is still young and has years to go and Kohli seems to be the right player to guide him to become a better international player.
Hardik Pandya:
Kohli is doing to Pandya what Dhoni did for him – mentor and push him to perform at all levels and formats. Pandya is responding in the right manner and this bodes well for Indian cricket. Pandya made his Test debut despite calls that he was being favoured by Kohli. He however, answered the critics in style and has thrived.
Pandya is slowly shaping up to be India’s all-round man and is great with both batting and bowling. He must work a bit more to get to the world-class level but he will get there eventually.
KL Rahul:
Rahul is another player who has benefited a lot from playing under Virat Kohli. He was able to smash his centuries under the tutelage of the current captain and generally shares a good rapport with Kohli.
Though Rahul made his debut under Dhoni, he has been playing some fantastic cricket under Kohli’s captaincy, which is great to see.
Special mentions: Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav.
By Rohit Nair
