Former India skipper MS Dhoni on Tuesday lavished praise on current captain Virat Kohli, calling him the best.
Kohli slammed a brilliant ton and a half-century against England in the first Test at Edgbaston. “Virat is the best and he’s already reached a status where he is close to a legend stage. I am happy for him and the way he has batted. He has been brilliant in the last few years. He has taken the team forward and that’s what you want from a leader. I wish all the best to him,” Dhoni said at the launch of a mobile app ‘Run Adam’.
The dashing wicket-keeper-batsman also cleared the air about his international future making it clear that he is going nowhere till the 2019 World Cup in England.
There were rumours about his retirement when TV cameras spotted him asking for the match ball after final ODI that India lost to England last month but Dhoni revealed that he was merely doing his homework for next year’s ICC event.
“I took the ball to see why we are not able to get enough reverse swing. Because we will be playing the World Cup in England, we have to (ensure) that we get reverse swing going. Because it is something that is very important. If the opposition is getting it, we should also get it, at some point or the other,” Dhoni elaborated.
“After 50 overs, the ball is useless to the ICC (International Cricket Council), so I requested the umpire ‘Can I get the ball and gave it to the bowling coach?”
“We need to work on it as to how we can get it more scuffed up so that we can get a bit of reverse swing going, that will in-turn help the fast bowlers get those yorkers or wickets in and around the 40th over mark. That would really help us restrict the opposition by not getting too many runs in the last 10 overs.”
When asked how India can win the Test series, having lost the opener in Birmingham by 31 runs, Dhoni said, “I will just tell you one thing — to win a Test match, you need 20 wickets and we (India) did that. So that’s the only answer I would give because it doesn’t matter how well you bat, how well you are there for five days but (by) taking 20 wickets, you can win a Test match.”
Still playing in the ODI and T20I sides, Dhoni recently became the 12th ever batsman in ODIs to get past 10,000 runs. He also led India to win the inaugural T20 World Cup trophy in 2007, ICC 2011 World Cup and the Champions Trophy in 2013.
Dhoni will now join the Indian cricket team for the Asia Cup 2018 in September.
