Dhoni saved me from getting dropped from the team many a times: Virat Kohli

There are always those individuals who we associate with a certain thing and former Indian captain MS Dhoni absolutely owned the leadership. The term ‘Captain Cool’ was coined to describe his calmness as skipper and that along with the immense success he had leading the team goes on to show he was made for the job. Now that he has stepped down and Virat Kohli has taken over the reins expectations will be high from the Delhi lad who has been leading the Test team with excellence.

The Indian selectors announced the team for the series against England just yesterday and while Virat is the captain Dhoni is also a part of the team as wicketkeeper-batsman since he wants to be there and guide his successor through the initial phase. MS Dhoni was the skipper of the team when Virat a 19-year-old cricketer made his India debut.

Despite the fact that he captained the India U19 team that won the junior World Cup in 2008 he was still raw for the highest level when he was brought in. Everyone knew he had the potential to make it big but after a string of poor performances against Sri Lanka a lot of people felt he was too naive for international cricket yet and should be dropped.

But Dhoni being Dhoni stood behind him and the backing has created the best batsman in the world today for the Indian team. The new skipper in a conversation with BCCI.tv today said, “Obviously, 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 to be my captain,”

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He remembers the time when he needed support the most and his skipper was there behind him. “He (Dhoni) will always be the person, who guided me initially and gave me opportunities. He gave me ample time and space to grow as a cricketer, saved me from getting dropped from the team many a times,” Virat said.

COMING UP SOON on https://t.co/CPALMGgLOj – Skipper @imVkohli talks about Captain @msdhoni #TeamIndia #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/OLenwzoVBg

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 7, 2017

Earlier, after Dhoni’s decision to quit captaincy was announced Virat had posted a tweet on similar lines – “Thanks for always being the leader a youngster wants to have around him. You’ll always be my captain @msdhoni Bhai”

Thanks for always being the leader a youngster wants to have around him. You'll always be my captain @msdhoni Bhai ??

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 6, 2017