Having officially taken over as the captain of India’s limited overs team, Virat Kohli feels that his predecessor MS Dhoni should now enjoy his cricket, and even bat higher up the order than he has done over the last few years, when he was leading the side, and carrying the pressure of expectations. Dhoni stepped down as ODI and T20 captain just before the Indian team for the England ODIs and T20s were to be announced, paving the way for Kohli to take over. Dhoni made himself available for selection as a player, and has been retained as wicket-keeper batsman for both formats.
Elaborating on what MSD’s role in the team would be now that he has relieved himself of leadership, Kohli told bcci.tv in an exclusive interview, “About the batting bit, if I ask him where he wants to bat, I know what kind of a person he is, he will tell me ‘wherever you want me to bat’. But I would love to see him bat higher up than usually where he has been for the last few years and totally enjoys his cricket. If MS Dhoni enjoys his cricket and plays the way he has in his initial years, the team is in a very solid space. His cricket ability, his understanding of the game, understanding of situations, is priceless. To have this burden off his shoulders I think he is gonna enjoy the best phase of his career as a batsman.”
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Kohli also wants to former skipper to express himself freely with the bat, like he used to do when had begun his international career, as a swashbuckling batsman. “What I’m most pleased about is the fact he will be able to play free cricket. He will be able to express himself as the aggressive MS Dhoni that we knew, when he came into the team. Somewhere as a player you understand that responsibility can take that away from you. I think it’s time he enjoys his cricket for how much ever time he wants and really expresses himself. He has taken so much burden for the country, and now it’s his time to enjoy it,” Kohli added.
Heaping lavish praise on Dhoni the captain, Kohli went on to add, “These are massive shoes to fill. You think of MS Dhoni and the first word that comes to mind is ‘captain’. You don’t relate MS Dhoni in any other way. For me he is always going be my captain because I started my career under him and he is handing over the leadership to me. He will always be the person who guided me initially, who gave me opportunity, gave me ample time and ample space to grow as a cricketer. He saved me from getting dropped from the team many a time. And that’s why there’s a huge amount of mutual respect, because he understands that being given an opportunity I have tried to work as hard on my game and actually improved on the mental side of things so that I can take up the responsibility later. We share a wonderful friendship.”
In the interview, Kohli candidly admitted that he was not prepared for Test captaincy, when it was thrust upon him, following Dhoni’s shock retirement midway through the Australia tour, “Test captaincy; I think I was told the day before the meeting that MS is not going to play in Adelaide and I’m gonna be captaining the country. It was quite surprising for me because I didn’t expect it at all. Because, in my head I was still finding my feet in Test cricket as a batsman. But the responsibility worked beautifully for me,” Kohli recalled.
--By A Cricket Correspondent
