3 Players MS Dhoni didn’t back but Virat Kohli did

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are two of the most iconic Indian players of the modern era. While Dhoni led the Indian team for almost a decade, Kohli took over the mantle from him and has been leading the side for the last few years. Both their captaincy styles are completely different.

Kohli is generally in the face of the opposition and loves showing his emotions. On the other hand, Dhoni rarely showed any emotions on the field and always seemed cool and calm. The wicket-keeper loved playing with spinners while Kohli loves backing his fast bowlers. He seems to love the pace on the ball.

Hence, as captain, you generally tend to back certain players. There are certain players who enjoy the confidence of certain captains. Dhoni did back quite a few players when he was at the helm while Kohli is doing the same. Thus, let’s look at three players who MS Dhoni didn’t really back but Virat Kohli did in his reign as captain.

1 Kuldeep Yadav

There’s absolutely no secret that Virat Kohli loves having Kuldeep Yadav in the side. Irrespective of the format, he has always backed the chinaman. Kuldeep shot into the limelight back in 2014 during the Under19 World Cup where he finished as the joint-second highest wicket-taker (14 wickets).

However, he had to wait for another three years to make his international debut. He was included in the national side a couple of times but didn’t get a game. MS Dhoni was the captain during that time. However, he was a tad reluctant to throw the chinaman in. It was only in a Test match against Australia in March 2017 that he made his maiden appearance in international cricket.

However, since then he hasn’t looked back. He soon made his ODI debut as well and he has had the complete backing of Virat Kohli who took over the captaincy across all formats in 2017. Hence, in just over two years, Kuldeep Yadav has turned into India’s premier white-ball bowler and has also been in and around the Test team.

He has formed a lethal partnership along with Yuzvendra Chahal in limited-overs cricket while he has got limited opportunities in Tests. Kohli has often been vocal about the chinaman’s importance and has backed him throughout.