Virat Kohli needs to be lauded for being unthreatened by Dhoni's presence, feels Mike Hussey
Virat Kohli took over captaincy from Dhoni in 2017
|BCCI
Mike Hussey admitted that, in general, it might be threatening to have someone as experienced in the team like MS Dhoni, but noted that it wasn't the case with Kohli. Hussey pointed out that this was the reason why the two Indian captains shared such a strong and special chemistry between them.
India’s World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni had stepped down as the limited-overs captain in 2017 and Virat Kohli was named skipper across all formats. Despite the transfer of power and the fact that the two captains were two completely distinct characters on the field, Kohli and Dhoni always shared good chemistry between them.
And According to the legendary Mike Hussey, due to his immense disposition, not everyone would be comfortable to have Dhoni in the same team but noted that it wasn't the case with Virat Kohli. In fact, the current Indian captain is known to have loved having MS Dhoni in his team. Despite Dhoni’s dominant persona, Kohli remains 'unthreatened' by his persona, which, according to Hussey, is commendable.
“I think you got to give a lot of kudos to Virat Kohli, having someone like MS Dhoni still in the team who’s been, arguably, India’s most successful captain. Sometimes some people would find that threatening to still have that person in the team,” Hussey said in an episode of chat show Sony Ten’s Pit Stop.
“But I think that’s where you need to tip your hat to Virat and so you know he’s obviously got the personality to say ‘no, no I would like this guy around. I can learn from this guy, and he’s going to help me get down the better skipper and obviously have a better team’,” Hussey added.
Dhoni last played with Virat Kohli in the 2019 World Cup semi final between India and New Zealand. Incidentally, that, till date, remains the former skipper's last international game for the country.
