I learnt a lot from Dhoni seeing the way he made decisions: Virat Kohli

The Indian Test team under the leadership of skipper, Virat Kohli had made its way to the top of the Test team rankings and is most likely to stay there for some time. Though they haven’t played in England, South Africa or New Zealand, the journey for this new team started with the last Test in Australia. They lost the match but it showed a change in the approach, there was aggression and there was hunger, to beat the Aussies in their backyard.

Virat Kohli and his men have come a long way since having beaten Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, South Africa in India, winning the Test series 2-0 in the Caribbean and have sealed the home series against the Kiwis 2-0. Most of them are not the pro’s in Test cricket but definitely have the potential to be. Rebuilding a team is about identifying and nurturing players who can be match-winners for years to come.

Captaining such a team is an even tougher job. You have to understand each player and communicate with them in the manner which suits them the most and then share confidence upon each other. Virat has been able to do that. With the likes of KL Rahul coming into the team and starting to deliver immediately it shows how synchronized the dressing room is.

He took over the baton from MS Dhoni in 2014 and is about to complete 2 years as captain. Kohli said he learnt a lot while playing under Dhoni, he was just concerned with his own batting back then and opted to talk to the skipper and other players about his ideas and opinions. “When I was playing under MS Dhoni it was all about preparing for my own batting plans and I didn’t have so much responsibility in terms of leading the team. I would talk to Dhoni, fellow players and to batsmen and bowlers about plans but the decision wasn’t left on me.” He said in an interview with BCCI.tv.

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He learnt how to make decisions from his skipper and that you had to be sure of what you want to go ahead with. “Decision making is very hard at times and it takes a lot of courage to do that. I learnt a lot from Dhoni seeing the way he made decisions. They might have been right or wrong but to convince yourself to make one decision and go forward with it; I think that is the essence of being a captain.” Virat added.

As the captain his perception changed, now had the responsibility to make the decisions. He had to be the one leading from the front. But we all know Virat as someone who enjoys that and he takes absolute honor in leading the team and wants to be the cushion in the team to take the pressure off his team.

“After I became captain, things changed in the sense that I understood that I had to take decisions now. That extra responsibility helped me play even better than I probably would have been. It takes your mind off from a lot of other things that might cloud your head. For me it is an honour to take up that responsibility for the team, soak up that pressure for the others in the team. It has to be looked at as a privilege rather than thinking that there is too much burden. I have been put in a position that I can help the other members of the team and that to me is the most special thing about being a captain.” He said.

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