Revealing the manner in which Dhoni conveyed his decision to retire from Test cricket to the team, India’s new captain in the longer format, Virat Kohli said, “It was a surprise for us. We didn’t expect it, we were just in the dressing room, changing and packing (after the final day of the MCG Test) and he said all this. It was shocking for us. In that situation we didn’t know how to react, we were stunned.”
Kohli said Dhoni was still a part of the side.
“He (Dhoni) is the second ’keeper as of now. So God forbid something happens to (Wriddhiman) Saha, I mean I can’t ’keep in the game, so obviously he has to step in. Nothing wrong with him (Saha) but anything can happen in sport, overnight. Stomach bug or something.”
The Indian skipper said he had a lot to learn from Dhoni’s composure.
Common sense
On not being fined by the ICC despite stormy incidents at the MCG, Kohli said. “It is common sense that if you are not fined then you understand what was happening out in the middle.
“I was standing up for the whole team.”
On the topic of aggression, a rather mellowed Kohli said, “I don’t think aggression means I have to go out there and talk to everyone out there. Aggression means the way I play the ball or I defend a ball. That’s the motive of the team; to play aggressively, to play positive cricket.”
He agreed with David Warner that both sides should not be giving a ‘send-off’ to a batsman after a dismissal.
“I think that’s basically an unnecessary part of cricket. When you have got someone out, you don’t need to run towards him to say any sort of thing. It looks bad on the field.”
Asked about how he would handle the pressures of Test captaincy, Kohli said, “My first aim is to take everyone along as captain and if everyone is working in the same direction, that will be very satisfying.”
He also said the entire team needed to have a vision.
When queried about Kohli’s captaincy, Australia skipper Steve Smith said, “He’s a quite emotional character and likes to get involved in a lot of the decisions.”
