Cricketers Mentored by MS Dhoni |

Out of all the wonderful traits MS Dhoni had as captain, one of the best ones was his ability to back players. There are or were very few captains who backed players like Dhoni did. Once he picked a player, he gave him a decent run. He had the ability to identify who is that player for the long run. Dhoni will go down as arguably one of the best captains to have ever played the game.

He’s one of the best finishers the game has ever seen as well. The Ranchi-born cricketer has had a massive impact in Indian cricket. As captain, his unorthodox and unpopular calls have changed Indian cricket and given them quite a bit of silverware. Be it giving Joginder Sharma the final over in the T20 World Cup final in 2007 or promoting himself to No. 5 in the World Cup final in 2011 or even persisting with Ishant Sharma in the final of the Champions Trophy 2013.

These are just a few glimpses of what Dhoni’s backing can do. In fact, Dhoni’s backing and influence have had long term impacts as well. It has changed the careers of multiple cricketers.

Hence, here are 10 players who have credited MS Dhoni for their successful careers thus far.

10. Virat Kohli

In this era, there is absolutely no doubt that Virat Kohli is one of the best batsmen across formats. While he has a fabulous record in the longest format, his record in white-ball cricket is unmatched. The current Indian skipper is the only batsman in the history of the game to average 50 or more in all three formats. Kohli has an excellent average of 54.78 in Test cricket, a staggering 60.31 in ODI cricket and 50 (the best by any player) in T20Is.

Kohli had an indifferent debut ODI series (in 2008) when he scored 159 runs in five innings against Sri Lanka. That was as an opener. However, a year later, he got a chance to bat at 3 and cemented his spot by performing consistently. Hence, Kohli credits MS Dhoni for his success. “When I walked into the team, he had the option of trying someone else after few games, although I grabbed my chances for me to get that kind of backing, it was very crucial for me. Also, he gave me an opportunity to bat at No 3 because not many youngsters get to play at No 3,” Kohli had recently said in a chat with India Today.

In Test cricket, Kohli was backed big time. He had a mediocre debut series in 2011 where he could muster just 76 runs from five innings against West Indies. When India went to Australia, the Delhi lad batted at 6 but got scores of 11, 0, 23 and 9 in the first two Tests and was on the verge of getting dropped. In fact, by the time the third Test came, Rohit Sharma was in line for a debut but Dhoni backed Kohli and as they say, the rest is history.