New Delhi: Virat Kohli, after being named India's captain for ODIs and T20Is as well, spoke to BCCI.TV on the prospect of being honored with the responsibility and taking over from one of India's greatest captains ever, MS Dhoni.
Excerpts from the Interview:-
1. On captaincy takeover
First reactions are obviously, it's a very special moment in my life, it's a lot of responsibility and something that I'm really looking forward to. I didn't realise when this transition happened, in my own head. Starting off as a player just wanting to play for India and now having the responsibility to be captain in all three formats. I feel very grateful that I've been given this opportunity. When it was informed to me by the selectors and the BCCI, all the emotions and the feeling of me playing club games as a child, those are the first things that came to mind because for every child growing up it's a dream to play for the country and then this probably is the biggest day in my life.
I'm very thankful to MS Dhoni as well, for giving me this opportunity, for thinking that I'm worthy of taking that responsibility forward. I'm very grateful to his whole contribution in this process as well, I've learnt a lot from him in terms of leadership, in terms of conducting myself, how to take the team together, so it couldn't have been done in a better way, such a respectful and a humble way by him.
2. Transformation as captian from Tests to all formats
Test captaincy, I think I was told the day before the meeting that MS (Dhoni) is not going to play the first Test in Adelaide and I'm going to captaining the country. It was quite surprising for me because I didn't expect it at all. Because in my head I was still finding my feet in Test cricket as a batsman. But the responsibility worked beautifully for me. That took a bit of time and process to understand how it's done. I would say the one-day and T20 captaincy is something that I have tried to learn along the lines a lot more but at the same time I feel a lot more confident taking it up and starting it off straightaway, because of the kind of cricket that I have played in the shorter formats and what I have learnt being in different situations in that particular format. It's something that will really help, understanding the game better.
3. One leading MS Dhoni in the team
It's a win-win situation for the new captain coming in, still having that guy for advice, for his inputs, for the cricketing brain purely that he has. But what I'm really, really happy about and what I'm most pleased about is the fact that he'll be able to play free cricket, he'll be able to express himself as the aggressive MS Dhoni that we knew when he came into the team. Somewhere as a player you understand that responsibility can take that (playing the natural game) away from you. I think it's time he enjoys his cricket for how much ever time he wants and really express himself, because he's taken so much burden for the country and now it's his time to enjoy it.
Here's the full interview:-
The sort of respect, understanding, and coordination MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli seem to share only hints at an even brighter future for the Indian cricket team.
