cricket

Updated: Sep 15, 2019 10:39 IST

India take on South Africa to begin their home season. There is no MS Dhoni in the squad and yet, when captain Virat Kohli addressed the media, he had to speak about the former Indian captain. And true to his nature, Kohli had no qualms in accepting the fact that both their mindset are quite similar when it comes to putting the interests of the side above everything else.

A game I can never forget. Special night. This man, made me run like in a fitness test 😄 @msdhoni 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/pzkr5zn4pG — Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 12, 2019

“Look experience is always going to matter whether you like it or not. I mean there are a numerous number of times people have given up on sportsmen, and they have proved people wrong, and he has done that many times in his career as well. So one great thing about him is that he thinks for India cricket. And whatever we think, he is on the same page. The alignment is there. The kind of mindset he has had is to groom youngsters and give them opportunities, and he is still the same person,” Kohli spoke about Dhoni.

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And then there was the tweet which sparked off rumours around Dhoni’s retirement, but Kohli said that retirement was a personal choice and it should thus be left on the seasoned campaigner to make the call.

“When you decide to stop playing is an absolutely individual thing, and no one else should have an opinion on it, that’s what I think,” Kohli said. “As long as he is available and continues to play, he is going to be very very valuable.”

The captain has to stress on the fact that his tweet was merely a recollection of the game which he was extremely proud of, but, well, in Indian cricket and in Indian society, where emotions are extremely heightened, Kohli would have understood the importance of MS Dhoni.