When Dhoni’s backing helped Kohli regain his form in Australia

Three years after having made his debut for India in white ball cricket, Virat Kohli got a look in to the Test side in 2011. However, his initial few days were not smooth and the youngster could hardly manage any runs against a side like West Indies. He was subsequently dropped from the team against England.

However, he was considered for the home series against West Indies where the series he hit two half-centuries in the only game he played and the performance earned him a place in the side touring Australia. The start to Australia tour was horrible to say the least. In the four innings across Melbourne and Sydney, a young Virat Kohli scored 11, 0, 23 and 9.

For any cricketer that would have been the end of tour, but captain MS Dhoni was an astute leader with an eye for spotting talent, and he decided to back the youngster.

Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar, while speaking on the Sony Sports Network revealed that Kohli was on the verge of getting dropped from the team but MS Dhoni decided against it.

The 23-year-old followed the grim outings with scores of 44 and 75 in Perth and then a maiden Test century in the final Test in Adelaide. On a tour when India were hammered 4-0 in the Test series, Virat Kohli had turned out to be a find, thanks to MS Dhoni.

“Virat Kohli is Virat Kohli. He always finds ways to score runs,” Manjrekar said. “The hundred that he scored in the 2011/12 series, India lost it 0-4. They’d lost to England 0-4. And I think that was the only century scored by an Indian in that series. He was a young man who actually was on the verge of getting dropped after Sydney. Dhoni backed him; he played in Perth scored a 70 and then he got that hundred.”

“Now at Adelaide, a lot of Indian batsmen have got runs. It’s a pitch closer to home. It’s got pace but the bouncer comes around this high (Pointing to his chest). It’s like an Indian pitch, but because it’s day/night and there’s going to be the pink ball, that changes things completely. The thing with Virat Kohli is that later, in 2014/15, he hit four hundreds,” Manjrekar added.

 Since that tour, Kohli’s love for Adelaide has grown leaps and bounds.This time with the tour kicking off with a Pink Test in Adelaide, Kohli would like to continue his love affair with the ground.