Virat Kohli credits MS Dhoni for his promotion to bat at no.3 for India

Virat Kohli, the current Indian captain and one of the best batsmen of the current era, made his international debut in 2008 against Sri Lanka as an opener under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. After the high of India’s U19 World Cup win under the leadership of Kohli, the brash, yet talented right-hander was drafted into the Indian team right away.

Initially playing as a reserve batsman, Kohli shortly cemented his spot in the Indian team and was part of Dhoni’s 2011 World Cup winning team. Since his debut, Kohli has heralded a new era in Indian batting, taking over from Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsman of the side in all the formats and became the fastest to 10,000 ODI runs. He is second to Tendulkar in terms of ODI centuries with 41, to the great one’s 49 centuries.

Dhoni gave me an opportunity to bat at No.3, says Kohli

After all this success, Kohli has revealed that it was Dhoni who promoted him to bat at no.3 and he owes his success to the most efficacious captain that Indian team has ever had. In the same vein, Kohli also said that it is unfortunate to see many people going after him and also assured he will stand by Dhoni amid “unfortunate criticism” that the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman is coping.

“It’s unfortunate to see so many people going after him. For me, loyalty matters the most. 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 was quoted as saying by India Today.

Virat also spoke about the relationship between the two players and mentioned that he is awe of Dhoni’ unparalleled ability to read match situations.

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“He (MS Dhoni) is one person who knows the game inside out, who understands the game from ball 1 to ball 300 on the field, I won’t say it is a luxury to have him, but I am fortunate to have a mind like that from behind the stumps. It’s just about the field placements and bowling changes and we say you know the angles; you know the pace of the pitch and that’s why there are so much trust and respect between the two of us,” Kohli signed off.

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