The reality of the situation was MS chose me: Virat Kohli on his relationship with MS Dhoni and the shift of Indian captaincy

When you take over the reins of captaincy from one of the finest in the business, especially in terms of Indian cricket, there is always a boatload of gossip that follows and not always are they very pleasant ones. Similarly, when Virat Kohli took over the reins as Indian captain from MS Dhoni in the international circuit, there were a lot of hearsays stating that things may have been pretty awkward.

Speaking on the latest episode of the RCB Podcast season 2, Kohli addressed the immediate relationship between the two greats once captaincy shifted hands - “Between me and Mahi, there was never a question of any awkwardness. The reality of the situation was MS chose me. It was not the other way around.”

He further spoke about how Kohli, as vice-captain before, was already prepping to be the captain, “You understand that when you are a captain, and you have someone who is 23 years old and is already the vice-captain, always having conversations with him about what he can do in the field, giving away suggestions, whether he can take those on board or not. So I was always his right-hand man. I was always there understanding the game. We also got a lot of confidence because I was playing a lot of match-winning knocks.”

Kohli also shared how Dhoni knew the former’s capabilities as a leader and said, “He understood that I had a full understanding of the game. I was always giving a lot of input on the field. I never just stood there. I was always in the game, always sharing my opinion about how we can change a tight game in our favour. I would talk to him about conditions and the ideal bowlers who could get the job done. Hence, I was always there in the game. He took me under his wing and since 2012, I was groomed to be the guy who could take over.”

He concluded by expressing the utmost level of respect he had for Dhoni by saying, “I had and always have huge respect for him for how he captained the Indian cricket team, obviously how he performed with the Indian cricket team for so long. I never had any kind of ill intentions. I never felt like I should be there. I was always very respectful of the fact that he had so much trust in me and I can go and talk to him about anything.”