Dhoni will be my go-to man for reviews, says Virat Kohli
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In his first press conference as the Indian ODI captain, Virat Kohli reiterated MS Dhoni's importance to the team and said that he would be the final authority during on-field reviews. Kohli added that he was not stressed by the captaincy role but rather felt honored that he had been chosen.
India had a tough time in the Test series with the use of DRS as Indian players were getting used to the new technology. Both Wriddhiman Saha and Parthiv Patel often seemed lost when it came to making a decision. However, Kohli said that if Dhoni asked for a review, there would be no "further debate".
“I saw a statistic yesterday that said that 95% of the appeals that he has made in his career have been successful appeals. There will be no further debate after he says if it is outside the line or missing stumps. He is always someone who has always been very smart with decision making as far as appeals are concerned. His would be the one word I would trust,” Kohli said during the pre-match press conference in Pune.Â
The World Cup-winning captain will play under someone else for the first time since 2008 but Kohli feels that Dhoni would now be able to play with more freedom than he has been afforded over the last few years.Â
"I think he will bat with a lot more freedom and assurance. He won't think twice about attempting a big shot," Kohli said.
Kohli also talked about the new role of captaincy would not burden him at all.
"I am ready to take the captaincy in all three formats. I feel honored, I don't feel any stress or any burden at all. It just gives me more opportunities to take Indian cricket forward," Kohli said when asked about being handed the captaincy in all three formats of the game.
“I don’t think anything is different. Everything
Justifying the selection of Yuvraj Singh, Kohli made it clear that he wanted the very best players available for his first series as the ODI captain.. He also mentioned that the team would play every game like a knockout game in their run towards a Champions Trophy title
“We are taking these three games as knockouts. We are not taking these games as trial games. We cannot experiment much before Champions Trophy.,” he said. “We need to get all our resources in place before the big tournament (Champions Trophy) coming up. And that is why Yuvraj (Singh) has been brought in.”
