Kohli no less than Dhoni as captain, remarks Ravichandran Ashwin

The India team for the England series was announced today and as expected Virat Kohli has been confirmed as the skipper of the limited-overs side as well. A couple of days ago, MS Dhoni stepped down from the coveted position after leading India for a record 331 matches across all formats. There were many who felt the decision was premature, while another section of people called it to be a well-thought call. Ace Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin belongs to the second group of people.

He feels that the time and phase is just about perfect for Kohli to take over. In a recent conversation with TOI, Ravichandran Ashwin spoke at length at how the transition would be like in the Indian cricket. Knowing the camaraderie that Ashwin and Dhoni share, all fans waited to know his reactions. Ashwin started off with a word of praise for MS Dhoni as a player. He rightly reflected how his career had been an illustrious one.

“I think he (Dhoni) is going to be available as a player, his career was wonderful and illustrious. As a captain there are lot of leadership lessons from Dhoni for even big leaders out there,” he quoted.

He further added that it will surely be a very tough task to match the benchmark that Dhoni has set as a leader. He commented, “if you ask if anyone could match or deliver his (Dhoni) level of achievement, it is going to be a herculean task, definitely it is not going to be easy.”

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The transition phase of Indian cricket sees Virat Kohli receive the baton from MSD. Ashwin has a fair bit of experience of playing under Kohli. Kohli has been leading the team in Tests for over a year now. The results are there to see for all. India is currently the number one ranked Test team. He also cited that it is absolutely wrong to say that nobody can replace MS. There will be players who will come and go.

“It is going to be an exciting phase, it’s all about working out together hard and testing times…he is someone who looks out for suggestions. It is a wrong question to ask if someone will come to go forward (after Dhoni). Somebody will come. Virat Kohli is no less, if you look at his last one year’s Test performances. He is in the right phase to take over. Only looking at it, I am sure, MS has thought to pass the baton on (to Kohli),” Ashwin pointed out.

Dhoni’s call of stepping down as the skipper came as a surprising one. Very few expected it to happen. Talking about the decision, Ashwin said that one has to respect the decision that he has taken. Adding further, he mentioned that the players thought that there is no replacement for Sourav Ganguly when he had stepped down. But Dhoni arrived and led India in fine fashion.

“I think we are getting into an emotional battle, it is an individual call, I think, we have to respect it (Dhoni’s decision), it is my way of showing respect to him. After Ganguly, it was also felt no one else like him could come up, and these are natural and emotional, especially India is an emotional country, it is bound to happen when you have illustrious people leaving the game,” quoted Ravichandran Ashwin.

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Speaking on his personal preparations for the Test series in Sri Lanka and South Africa this year, the number one ranked spinner said he will continue to bowl in the same way that he is doing now. He conceded, “bowl the same way as I did the last time, I won man of the series awards there (Sri Lanka). In South Africa I have a desire that I have to do well there, they are a very good team, the conditions will be difficult.”