Michael Hussey lauds smooth transition in captaincy between Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni

While many speculations took place about a possible rift between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli during the change in captaincy, the two cricketers have busted the myth on many occasions and have continued to stay as close teammates.

When in 2017, when Kohli took over captaincy over all three formats, the transition between the two captains was a smooth one for India.

This aspect of the Kohli has impressed former Australian cricketer Michael Hussey. The Aussie appreciates the way Kohli respects Dhoni’s presence in the team.

“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.

Kohli first took over Test captaincy in December 2014 after Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced a sudden decision to retire after the third Test between India and Australia. Then in January 2017, Dhoni resigned as India captain across all formats.

As for Dhoni, since he took a sabbatical from cricket after the 2019 Cricket World, there has been constant speculation regarding his cricketing future. 

The former cricketer was to make a comeback to cricket for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). However, the tournament was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.