MS Dhoni Is Nurturing Virat Kohli: David Warner

Australia vice-captain David Warner has said former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has played an integral role in his successor Virat Kohli‘s emergence as a good captain.

While Kohli took the Test captaincy a couple of years ago, he was handed the limited-overs captaincy earlier this year. But Kohli has looked at ease in his role right from day one as he led India to series wins over England, West Indies, Sri Lanka in addition to leading the Men in Blue to the final of the Champions Trophy. The Kohli-led team has now also clinched the ongoing series against Australia by winning the first three games of the five-match series.

With Kohli impressing one and all with his captaincy, Warner has credited Dhoni for Kohli’s seamless transition from player to captain.

“MS Dhoni brought a sense of calmness to his captaincy. He did a great job as captain and he is still doing a great job, nurturing Virat and that is a great thing to do for a former captain.  He is nurturing Virat and that is a good thing to do for both men,” Warner was quoted as saying by India Today.

“Virat has not had a lot of non-success as captain but the real challenge comes when you start losing games. We are here for another three matches to go and hopefully we can turn that around and maybe we will see a different captain,” Warner added.

Meanwhile, India defeated the world champions by 5 wickets to win the third ODI and go 3-0 in the five-match series. Batting first, Australia rode on Aaron Finch’s century to post a challenging 293 for 6. However, India, led by Pandya’s 78, chased down the total inside 48 overs to seal the series.

The victory also helped Kohli to equal Dhoni’s record of leading India to most consecutive wins in ODIs. Dhoni had led India to 9 consecutive wins between 2008 and 2009 and Kohli will have a chance to break that record when his team takes on Steve Smith & Co. in the penultimate game of the series.