Virat Kohli finally breaks his silence on MS Dhoni’s captaincy decision

01/06/2017

Accolades flowed in from all quarters following MS Dhoni’s surprise decision to step down as India’s limited-overs captain, with one notable absence – Virat Kohli, his expected successor, who finally broke his silence with a tweet thanking Dhoni for his positive influence on his career.

Dhoni’s decision was made public on January 4, and the only story in the world of cricket was about the 2011 World Cup-winning captain. Cricketers, both past and present, were all praise for the Jharkhand player who had retired from Test cricket in December 2014.

Batting great Sachin Tendulkar said Dhoni’s successful captaincy should be celebrated, while ‘little master’ Sunil Gavaskar said that had Dhoni retired from the game altogether he would have staged a dharna outside his house.

Test captain Kohli had not reacted to Dhoni’s decision and this soon became the talking point in cricket circles with Dhoni loyalists criticizing the Delhi-born Kohli for his silence. Kohli has now come out with a tweet thanking "his captain".

"Thanks for always being the leader a youngster wants to have around him. You'll always be my captain Dhoni Bhai," Kohli tweeted from his official account.

Thanks for always being the leader a youngster wants to have around him. You'll always be my captain @msdhoni Bhai 😊😊
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 6, 2017