‘He was the only one who reached out to me': Virat Kohli recalls MS Dhoni's support during his tough phase

MS Dhoni & Virat Kohli (Image credits: Twitter)

Former Indian captains MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli share a special bond with each other on and off the field. Kohli, who made his all-format debut under Dhoni, later took over the all-format captaincy from the World Cup-winning captain. As a captain, both always look for success but the approach is different as Kohli is aggressive, while Dhoni does his job calmly. Right from the beginning of his career, Kohli has been supported by his go-to-man and this continues even after the legendary wicketkeeper-batter retired from international cricket.

Kohli, who has played 106 Tests, 271 ODIs, and 115 T20Is for India in a 15-year career, has gone through his worst form since 2019. The ace batter was looking completely out of touch and that invited loads of criticism from former cricketers and fans. He was even removed from the captaincy role of India and was mentally broken during that period.

Speaking on Bangalore Franchise Podcast Season 2, Kohli said that apart from his childhood coach and his family, Dhoni was the only person who 'reached out' to him during those tough times.

Kohli said: “What is interesting is that throughout this phase apart from Anushka, who has been the biggest source of strength for me because she has been with me throughout this whole time and she has seen me very closely as how have I felt, things that I have gone through, the kind of things that have happened…the only person who, apart from my childhood coach and family…genuinely reached out to me has been MS Dhoni.

“He reached out to me and you can rarely get in touch with him. If I call him on any random day, 99 per cent he will not pick up (the phone), because he just does not look at the phone. So, for him to reach out to me…twice it has happened now and one of the things that he’d mentioned in the message while reaching out to me was that: ‘when you are expected to be strong and looked at as a strong individual people forget to ask how are you doing?."

'He understands it because he has been there himself': Kohli

Despite his all efforts, Virat could not win a Cricket Governing Body trophy as captain and his form was at an all-time low. Kohli also mentioned that Dhoni understands his situation well as Dhoni has gone through similar phases in his life and career.

“So, it (Dhoni’s words) hit home for me because I have always been looked at as someone who is very confident, mentally very strong, who can endure any circumstances and find a way and show us the way. Sometimes, what you realise is that at any given point of time in life as a human being, you need to take a couple of steps backwards, understand how you are doing, how your well-being is placed.

"So, there are not many places, for the people who have played the game for a long period, as strong individuals, they can go and explain in a way that the other person can understand. That’s why I mentioned this particular incident because MS Dhoni knows exactly what is going on, he understands it because he has been there himself.

“He has experienced what I have experienced right now. So, it is only out of experience, and feeling those feelings in that moment is the only way you can be truly compassionate and understanding towards another individual who is going through the same thing," Kohli added.

Kohli, however, found his rhythm back after scoring centuries in both T20Is and ODIs. But he is yet to end his century drought in the longer format. The right-handed batter showed good touch in the first two Tests against Australia and will hopefully perform well in the remaining two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.