Highlights
- Virat Kohli recently opened up about his struggles with mental health
- Virat Kohli is making a comeback to the Indian setup as he missed the West Indies and Zimbabwe tour
- Virat now has 154 runs from 3 matches in the 2022 edition of Asia Cup
Virat Kohli on MS Dhoni: India clashed with Pakistan for the second time on September 4, 2022, in the super 4 stage of the Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium. The Rohit Sharma-led team India had locked horns with Pakistan earlier on August 28, 2022, and had inflicted a loss by a margin of 5 wickets on them. But this time around, the Babar Azam-led Pakistan brought their very best to the table and settled scores with arch-rivals India. The men in blue will now have to register wins against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka to make it to the finals of the Asia Cup.
All eyes were set firmly on former India captain Virat Kohli who has shown glimpses of his return in the ongoing Asia Cup. The Royal Challengers Bangalore stalwart batted through the entire Indian innings are scored 60 off 44 deliveries. Right after the marquee clash Virat sounded very candid in the post-match conference and opened up on various Issues. One of them was about his bond with former India captain MS Dhoni.
MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli share a bond that many will be envious of. Virat took over the mantle of Test captaincy from the legendary MS Dhoni in the year 2014 and he was further handed the reins of white-ball captaincy when MS stepped down in the year 2017. Both of them have always shared a great camaraderie and never had any clash of egos. When MS Dhoni was nearing the end of his playing days, Kohli was extremely protective of the World Cup-winning captain and had been very vocal about how the Indian team needed experience over everything else. Virat who recently opened up about his mental health lavished praise on MS Dhoni when asked about who backed him in his lean patch.
"I can certainly tell you one thing when I had stepped down from the Test captaincy, it was only MS Dhoni who texted me. Surprisingly many people from the cricketing fraternity have my number, they also give loads of suggestions on television but none of them bothered to speak to me personally. MS Dhoni and myself, we have never been insecure about each other and that speaks volumes. These days the critics speak about me in front of the entire world on television but refrain from reaching out to me personally and I don't value that. I like to live my life with very honesty and I certainly know the intentions that people have.", said Virat Kohli who also took a small dig at his critics.
Virat Kohli on Babar Azam
Not only just MS Dhoni, but Virat Kohli also had great words to speak for Pakistan skipper Babar Azam who is currently dominating world cricket, just like he was in 2016. Virat said that he finds the Pakistan skipper to be a very nice guy and they have always had great conversations around the game and beyond. Appreciating Babar's curiosity to learn, Virat said that he is a very good observer of the game and always looks to take his game ahead.
