Virat Kohli has been fantastic as captain: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni

Speaking ahead of the second Test match against Australia, at Brisbane, MS Dhoni, who is now back as the Indian captain after an extended lay-off due to a right thumb injury, has said that the break was much needed for him and has helped him work on his fitness.

Dhoni said: “This rest was very important for me. I got the thumb injury while playing in England and I played on because sometimes, these injuries settle as you keep playing.“But that wasn’t the case this time and the right hand thumb only got worse with more batting. It was an important call for me because this is an important series and then there is the World Cup. So, I wanted 20-25 days at a stretch which I got. It was good for me because I got some time to work on my fitness as well.”

Dhoni impressed with his deputy

In his absence, Virat Kohli took over the reins and performed admirably well – whitewashing Sri Lanka 5-0 in a home series and then putting up a spirited fight on a Day 5 wicket against Australia in the Adelaide Test.

Not just as a captain, Kohli managed to turnaround his personal form as well; he 25-year-old, coming into the series after a string of failures in IPL 2014 and the England tour that followed, was the team’s leading run-scorer in the bilateral against Sri Lanka, despite not batting at his usual No. 3 position, and has kicked off the Australian series with a record-breaking twin centuries.

When asked about the way Kohli has led the team, a hugely impressed Dhoni said: “He has been fantastic, not only as a captain but also as a leader, even in the ODIs that he has led in. He is an aggressive character and is slightly different to what I am. What he did throughout the Test was great and especially his approach towards his own batting was fantastic. He had a lean series in England and it was good to see the way he prepared for this series and then the way he went out there and batted.”

On what appealed to him the most, he said: “He kept mixing it up (attack and defence). He wasn’t attacking over the top. He gave an in-and-out field to Karn at times and when he felt he could put the pressure on the batsmen, he brought in the fielders close. That is how cricket is played now – you have to see the momentum and decide when to attack or back off slightly. He did fantastically well in that regards.”