"I was always his right-hand man" - Virat Kohli says MS Dhoni chose him as his successor

Virat Kohli recently stated that there was no awkwardness between him and MS Dhoni when he took over the captaincy reins of the Indian team from the latter.

The Delhi-born cricketer revealed that the transition was very smooth, as Dhoni himself selected the former as his successor.

Kohli mentioned that he worked very closely with the former skipper during his stint as the vice-captain of the national team. The 34-year-old also claimed that he would often give Dhoni his input on the field.

"With me and MS, there was never a question of any awkwardness in that whole period because the reality of the situation is that MS chose me and it wasn't the other way around," he said in the RCB Podcast Season 2. "So when you understand as a captain that you already have someone who has been under your wings since he was 23 and vice-captain.

"I was always having conversations with him about what we can do on the field. So I was always his right-hand man. I was always understanding the game. We also gained confidence because I was playing a lot of match-winning knocks for the team.

"So he understood that I understand the game. I was also giving him a lot of input on the field. I was never someone who was just standing there fielding and throwing the ball back."

Notably, Virat Kohli was appointed as the captain of India's Test team in 2014 following Dhoni's retirement from red-ball cricket. He became the all-format skipper in 2017 after he was handed the captaincy in limited-overs formats.

Kohli stepped down as the T20I captain after India's group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup in 2021. He was stripped of the ODI captaincy later that year. The star batter resigned as India's Test captain in January 2022.

"Never had any kind of ill-intention when it came to MS Dhoni" - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli further stressed that he has always regarded and revered MS Dhoni for his significant contribution to the team's achievements throughout the years.

He pointed out that his relationship with MS Dhoni remained unchanged even when he became the captain. Kohli added that he could honestly tell the World Cup-winning skipper if he didn't agree with any of his suggestions.

"Since 2012, I was groomed to be the next guy who's gonna take over," he continued. "So that's why it was very smooth, and I always had and still have huge respect for him, for how he captained the Indian cricket team, and how he performed for so long.

"I never had any kind of ill-intention when it came to MS. I never felt like I should be there. I always was very respectful of the fact that he has so much trust in me and I can go and talk to him about anything."

"It was still the same when I became the captain," Kohli added. "He would give me advice all the time, and I was able to tell him that I don't want to use this at this point, and let's go ahead and use this plan. It was very clear and very simple. There was never awkwardness, there was never any of this that he might feel bad or I might feel bad, never happened with us."

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While Virat Kohli was criticized by many for failing to win an ICC trophy during his tenure, he finished with an impressive captaincy record. He led India in 213 matches across formats, winning 135 of them.

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