Indian captain Virat Kohli has time and again showed that he has utmost respect for MS Dhoni. Kohli made his debut under MS Dhoni’s captaincy and now he has established himself as one of the modern-day greats.
Over the years, we have seen Dhoni and Kohli sharing a very friendly bond on and off the field. Earlier, when MS Dhoni was the captain of India, he always encouraged Virat to play his natural game. In fact, it was his decision to promote Virat Kohli at number 4, ahead of Yuvraj Singh, in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Dhoni has always enjoyed Virat’s success and now when the flamboyant Delhi lad is the captain of India, he gives Dhoni the utmost respect and keeps asking for his advice during matches.
After the fifth ODI of the recently concluded series between West India and India, Kohli defended MS Dhoni in the post-match conference and gave some strong replies to journalists who criticised Dhoni’s slow innings in the fourth ODI, which many believe led to India’s defeat in the end.
During the post match press conference on July 6, when a reporter asked Virat Kohli about his views on MS Dhoni’s diminishing form, to this he said:
“He is striking the ball beautifully, you don’t need to tell him anything in terms of how to play a situation, how to build an innings.”
On MS Dhoni’s slowest 50-run knock, Virat said:
“I think it was only in the last game he couldn’t rotate the strike and before that he got a brilliant 70 or 80 odd not out.”
“I think we get too impatient by just one game, one knock. That can happen to anyone, any batsman can struggle and any batsman can get stuck on the crease, it happens to everyone even if you are in top form.”
