You have to give MS Dhoni a lot of credit for Virat Kohli’s rise, feels Dinesh Ramdin

Even though Dhoni inherited a great team from Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble in limited-overs and Test cricket respectively, he oversaw a transition phase in Indian cricket and led them to massive success in white-ball format. The likes of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina in ODIs and Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma in Test cricket always speak about the backing Dhoni extended to them when no one else believed in their abilities.

“I remember one instance when Virat (Kohli) wasn’t getting any runs, he just came off an England series. We were there for a one-day series and we got Virat out once or two cheaply. He didn’t drop him. He said look, rather than bat at number three, I’m going to put you at four or five. In one game, he (Kohli) came in at number four or five and scored a century and that was it. He was back to his normal self.

Since Dhoni announced his retirement through a cryptic Instagram post on India’s Independence Day, many former and current cricketers have paid tributes to the man from Ranchi for his exceptional cricket qualities. But Ramdin touched upon the person that Dhoni is, calling him a ‘wonderful human being’.

“Dhoni is a wonderful human being. He always said he wants to be remembered as a humble servant or a great human being and not for all the stuff he did on the cricket field. I think that is important, that says a lot about him. Some players when you ask them what you want to be remembered as, (they say) ‘best allrounder’, ‘best batsman’, ‘best bowler’. But he went on the other side and said ‘the best human being he can possibly be’. I look at the movie and it was a very amazing story, where he came from and where he is today.”