I was considered as a failed captain: Kohli talks about captaincy stint, relationship with Dhoni and more

Virat Kohli appeared on RCB Podcast and shared his heart out. From his lack of form, MS Dhoni’s message, and Anushka Sharma’s support to more, Kohli got candid like we have rarely seen him. 

To begin with, Kohli said that even though the team scaled considerable heights under his leadership, he was still considered a failed captain. “We reached in Final of CT 2017, Semi in 2019 WC, Final in WTC and 5 Test Matches in a row but I was considered as a failed captain,” he said

Virat Kohli’s Captaincy Record (2013-2022)

• Matches: 213
• Won: 135
• Lost: 60
• Tied: 3
• Draw: 11
• No Result: 4

Talking further, Kohli mentioned that apart from Anushka and his family, the only person to genuinely reach out to him was MS Dhoni. 

“Throughout this phase, apart from Anushka, my childhood coach and family, the person who genuinely reached out to me has been MS Dhoni. He reached out to me, and you can rarely get in touch with him. If I call him, 99 per cent he will not pick up, because he just does not look at the phone. One of the things that he 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?”

Kohli further talked about the relationship between the two and said that there was never any awkwardness between the two once the leadership changed hands.

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“Between me and Mahi, there was never a question of any awkwardness. The reality of the situation was MS chose me. It was not the other way around. I had and always have huge respect for him for how he captained the Indian cricket team, obviously how he performed with the Indian cricket team for so long. I never had any kind of ill intentions. I never felt like I should be there. I was always very respectful of the fact that he had so much trust in me and I can go and talk to him about anything.”

Virat Kohli is currently in midst of 4-match Test series against Australia. The team has won the first two Test matches and retained the Border-Gavakar Trophy. The 3rd Test match is scheduled for March 1 at Indore. 

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