‘That was it, Virat was back to his normal self’: How MS Dhoni’s change in tactics helped Kohli regain form
Veteran West Indies cricketer Denesh Ramdin recalled the 2014 ODI series against India in which captain MS Dhoni helped Kohli regain form.
The 2014 tour of England was not a good one for Virat Kohli. Kohli had a poor run with the bat throughout the Test series and he could only score 134 runs at an average of 13.40 in 5 games. The India batsman has often recalled it as the toughest phase of his cricketing career. It took a while for Kohli to get to his usual self, and veteran West Indies cricketer Denesh Ramdin recalled the 2014 ODI series against India in which captain MS Dhoni helped Kohli regain form.
Speaking in an interview to cricket.com, Ramdin said: “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.”
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Kohli was dismissed for 2 runs in the first ODI, and Dhoni pushed Kohli to no. 4 slot in the next game, in which the India batsman scored 62 runs, showing signs of forms. The 3rd ODI was washed out, and Kohli returned to his no. 3 batting position to score a ton in the 4th ODI.
“He (Dhoni) 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 (half century, actually) and that was it. He was back to his normal self,” Ramdin further added.
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Speaking on Dhoni’s captaincy, the former Windies batsman added: “Sometimes, understanding your players, not discarding them is important. Other teams might have gotten rid of their players, he still backed Virat. I think he’s (Kohli) going to be one of the best batsmen who’s ever played the game. His passion as well for the game and you have to give Dhoni a lot of credit.”
“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,” he signed off.
Dhoni will return to play for CSK when the 13th edition of IPL kicks off from September 19th in the UAE.
