Xtra Time Web Desk: In a startling revelation in his book “Coaching Beyond-My days with Indian cricket team” former Team India fielding coach R Sridhar said Virat Kohli was advised by ex Head Coach Ravi Shastri to respect MS Dhoni. The incident dates back to 2016 when Virat wanted ODI captaincy from Dhoni.
It is not a secret that both Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni shared a mutual respect with each other. The two legends of Indian cricket shared a brilliant camaraderie between them.
In his book, Sridhar wrote, “There was a time in 2016 when Virat was very eager to be the captain of the white-ball team too. He said a few things that showed he was looking for the captaincy,”
“You have to respect MS Dhoni”, Shastri advised Kohli
Sridhar also revealed how Ravi Shastri stepped in and advised Virat to wait for Dhoni to hand him the white ball captaincy.
“One evening, Ravi called him and said, ‘Look, Virat, MS gave it (the captaincy) to you in red-ball cricket. You have to respect him. He will give it to you in limited-overs cricket, too, when the time is right” said Sridhar in his book written by noted cricket journalist R Kaushik.
“Unless you respect him now, tomorrow when you are the captain, you won’t get respect from your team. Respect him now, irrespective of what is going on. It will come to you, you don’t have to run behind it,” R Sridhar added.
In 2017, Virat Kohli was entrusted with India’s full-time captain across all formats, and he turned the squad into a formidable opponent both at home and away. Kohli led India to remarkable series triumphs in Australia, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies, among other places, despite the team’s failure to win a significant ICC trophy during his captaincy.
In 2014, Dhoni handed over the Test captaincy to Virat.