Virat Kohli Explains How MS Dhoni Helped Him Become India Captain

India skipper Virat Kohli, on Saturday, credited his predecessor MS Dhoni for his smooth transition as captain. During a chat with his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin on Instagram, the 31-year old said that his elevation to captaincy has a lot to do with Dhoni keenly observing his cricket smarts.

Virat Kohli replaced Dhoni as Test captain during the 2014-15 tour of Australia and took charge of the limited-overs teams at the start of 2017. Virat Kohli has done really well as captain so far. Under him, India remained at the top of ICC Test rankings for more than three years and have also delivered consistently in ODIs and T20Is.

He led India to their first-ever Test and ODI series in Australia in 2018-19 season and also helped the team win ODI series in South Africa and New Zealand. As far as his record in ICC tournaments is concerned, he led India to the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semifinal of last year’s World Cup.

Speaking about his transition as captain, Virat Kohli said that Dhoni observing him for a long time was one of the reasons he became the captain. He also explained how he always tried to take responsibility.

“I think a large portion of me becoming captain was also to do with him (MSD) observing me for a long period of time. It just can’t happen like he goes and selectors say you become captain,” Virat Kohli replied to a specific question on the process of becoming the leader of the team.

“The guy who is there, he takes responsibility and says okay I think this is the next guy and I will tell you how he is going and then slowly that transition is formed.

“I think he played a big role in that and that trust you have to build over, say six seven years, it just doesn’t happen overnight,” he added.

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