Kudos to Virat Kohli for still having MS Dhoni in team: Michael Hussey
Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni share great camaraderie both on and off the field. Kohli, who made his debut under Dhoni's leadership, took over the captaincy responsibility from him in December 2014 in Test cricket. Dhoni took a sudden retirement from the longest format of the game during Australia tour and Kohli was named captain mid-tour. The Delhi-born took Team India to various heights in Test cricket as he led them to first-ever Tests series win in Australia during 208/19 tour. In 2017, Dhoni stepped down from captaincy in limited-over cricket and Kohli was the instant choice for leading the team further. Under Kohli's leadership, India were the runner-ups in 2017 Champions Trophy and semifinalists in 2019 World Cup.
Even after stepping down from captaincy responsibility, Dhoni remained an important part of Kohli's Team India in limited-overs cricket.
Former Australian batsman Michael Hussey hailed Kohli for still having Dhoni in the team. Hussey feels Dhoni is arguably India's most successful captain and presence of such players in the team might threaten some people.
“I think you got to give a lot of kudos to Virat Kohli, having someone like MS Dhoni still in the team who’s been, arguably, India’s most successful captain. Sometimes some people would find that threatening to still have that person in the team,” Hussey said in an episode of chat show Sony Ten’s Pit Stop on Sony India’s Facebook page.
“But I think that’s where you need to tip your hat to Virat and so you know he’s obviously got the personality to say ‘no, no I would like this guy around. I can learn from this guy, and he’s going to help me get down the better skipper and obviously have a better team’,” Hussey further said.
The 45-year-old also feels the return of Steve Smith and David Warner will make life difficult for the Indians in the upcoming series.
"Obviously, bringing back Smith and Warner into the team is huge, but the guys that were exposed and perhaps probably weren't quite ready at the time from two years ago, have now managed to get a number of Test matches under their belt. India are going to be up for a stiff challenge in Australia this summer," Hussey said.
