Cricket News
‘That’s MS Dhoni for you’- Virat Kohli remembers how MS Dhoni supported him during his lean patch
Indian star batter Virat Kohli ended his three-year century draught against Afghanistan in the 2022 Asia Cup in UAE. Since then, Kohli has been in tremendous form in limited-overs cricket, being the leading run-scorer in the 2022 20-20 World Cup with 296 runs. The 34-year-old went on to score centuries in the ODI series against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well.
Kohli was struggling with the form for a long time, he couldn’t contribute to his team’s win and seemed to be finding it difficult to judge the ball. He also lost his captaincy for India as well as the Bangalore franchise in the Indian T20 League. The last season of the Asia Cup turned out to be a redemption for Kohli as he was the highest scorer for India and the second leading run scorer in the tournament, with 276 runs from five matches including two fifties and a century.
In a podcast by the Bangalore franchise, Kohli said that the former Indian skipper MS Dhoni was the only person who reached out to him when he was going through a rough patch. Dhoni and Kohli share a very special bond and Kohli never forgets to acknowledge his captain whenever he gets the chance.
“The only person who, apart from my childhood coach and family…genuinely reached out to me has been MS Dhoni,” said Kohli in a Podcast.
“He reached out to me and you can rarely get in touch with him. If I call him on any random day, 99 per cent he will not pick up (the phone), because he just does not look at the phone. So, for him to reach out to me…twice it has happened now and one of the things that he’d mentioned in the message while reaching out to me was that: ‘when you are expected to be strong and looked at as a strong individual people forget to ask how are you doing?” he further added.
“So, it (Dhoni’s words) hit home for me because I have always been looked at as someone who is very confident, mentally very strong, who can endure any circumstances and find a way and show us the way. Sometimes, what you realise is that at any given point of time in life as a human being, you need to take a couple of steps backward, understand how you are doing, how your wellbeing is placed,” Kohli added.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Virat Kohli’s statment
MAHIRAT Bond ❤️
— Yash MSdian ™️ 🦁 (@itzyash07) February 25, 2023
Your Lin patch is still going on score some hundred in test
— Sagar kadam (@sagarka8) February 25, 2023
We Indian Fans are forever indebted to MS Dhoni that goes beyond 3 titles 2007,2011,2013🏆🏆🏆.He showed a dream to billions that your roots dont decide the limits of your success.
— Sudeep_The Curious_soul🕶️ 🇮🇳 (@sudeepsworld) February 25, 2023
If we support others who are going through lean patch. They are likely to payback. @imVkohli as a captain was known to be not so supportive of players who were struggling. He should expect the same
— Prashanth Karanth (@Prashanth511) February 25, 2023
Rohit sharma ne bhi kitna support kiya tha . Even ravi shastri ne bhi kiya tha.. ese bol bol kr unko hurt kar raha hai @imVkohli
— Swapnil (@outspoken3210) February 25, 2023
It's Dhoni's personality. He is very caring to everyone.
— Satya (@DharmaSatyam9) February 25, 2023
Again PR chalu without any reason 😂😂
— Caught_behind (@GULLYCRICKET7) February 25, 2023
But is the lean patch over yet?
— Prakash.k (@praksh28) February 25, 2023
If nobody were supporting you then May be problem is in you buddy
— roshan c (@LuffyRoshan) February 25, 2023
— RP (@meerkali7781) February 25, 2023
He never misses an opportunity to show his fanism
— Jayanth Adusumalli (@jay1adusu) February 25, 2023
Kohli is giving tough competition to raina
— Aman_18 (@Amanxd18) February 25, 2023
Thala is like a big brother to King and Hitman ❤️ Unreal bond
— silent✨ (@_silentttt07) February 25, 2023
MAHIRAT Bond ❤️
— Yash MSdian ™️ 🦁 (@itzyash07) February 25, 2023