Virat Kohli's Relationship With MS Dhoni Revealed By CoA Chief

India’s Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai gave an insight into the relationship between India’s current skipper Virat Kohli and former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The CoA was appointed to run the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and implement the directives of the Lodha Committee, which was set up following an IPL scandal in 2013. Rai heads the four member committee alongside noted historian Ramachandra Guha, former Indian women’s cricket team captain Diana Edulji and managing director of IDFC Limited Vikram Limaye.

Rai, who has been overseeing the running of the BCCI, revealed details about the relationship between the current and former India captains. He explained that Kohli and Dhoni share a great camaraderie on and off the pitch with both the players holding each other in high regard in terms of their achievements past and present.

Dhoni is arguably one of India’s greatest cricket captains having led the team to victories in the World T20 and ICC World Cups. He is currently retired from Test cricket, but continues to play in the limited overs formats and the chief of the CoA revealed Kohli’s view that the Indian wicketkeeper is irreplaceable in both Twenty20 and One Day International (ODI) cricket.

“Their camaraderie is exceptional with so much mutual respect. Virat respects Dhoni's cricketing acumen and Dhoni respects what Virat is achieving as a player," Rai was quoted as saying by the Times of India. "In fact, Virat has told the CoA why he thinks Dhoni is irreplaceable in the limited overs set up as of now.”

Kohli currently leads the team in all formats of the game and in the short time since taking over, he has broken a number of records. The 29-year-old has captained India to its most consecutive Test Series wins — winning nine in a row. He has lost just three of the 32 Tests he has captained and only two former captains have achieved that — Australia’s Ricky Ponting and India’s Sunil Gavaskar.

Apart from team records, he has also achieved multiple personal milestones, which already put him amongst an elite list of former captains of India. However, according to the CoA chief, Kohli still believes Dhoni is an important asset to the team, not only as one of the best wicketkeepers in the game, but also his knowledge, which has been honed over the years of playing international cricket.

"Virat feels that there are no faster pair of gloves than M.S. Dhoni today. Also, Dhoni's cricketing mind honed over so many years is an asset for Virat. As far as how many years of cricket is left in him, time and his performance will tell," Rai added.

Kohli and Dhoni were rested for India’s recent Nidahas T20 Tri-Series in Sri Lanka, which the Men in Blue won beating Bangladesh in the finals. The Indian players will now be involved in the Indian Premier League which begins on April 4th until May 31st. Their next commitment for the country will be the one-off Test match against Afghanistan on June 14th at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.