Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 25: Indian cricket fans are aware of the close relationship Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli have. On the first of the 10 episodes of the RCB Podcast Season 2, Kohli gave some insight into how his friendship with Dhoni functions.
“I have experienced a different kind of phase in my career currently. It’s been a while since I felt (this) free in the sense how I felt all these years of playing at any level of cricket,” said Virat Kohli on RCB Season 2 Podcast.
“What is interesting is that throughout this phase apart from Anushka, who has been the biggest source of strength for me because she has been with me throughout this whole time and she has seen me very closely as how have I felt, things that I have gone through, the kind of things that have happened…the only person who, apart from my childhood coach and family…genuinely reached out to me has been MS Dhoni.”
Dhoni and Kohli shared a dressing room for 11 years while they were both members of Team India between 2008 and 2019.
Since joining the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008, Virat Kohli has served as the team’s captain, serving in that capacity until 2021.
“He reached out to me and you can rarely get in touch with him. If I call him on any random day, 99 per cent he will not pick up (the phone), because he just does not look at the phone. So, for him to reach out to me…twice it has happened now and one of the things that he’d mentioned in the message while reaching out to me was that: ‘when you are expected to be strong and looked at as a strong individual people forget to ask how are you doing?,” he added.
“So, it (Dhoni’s words) hit home for me because I have always been looked at as someone who is very confident, mentally very strong, who can endure any circumstances and find a way and show us the way. Sometimes, what you realise is that at any given point of time in life as a human being you need to take a couple of steps backwards, understand how you are doing, how your wellbeing is placed,” he further added.
By highlighting the fact that they were going through comparable stages in their lives and careers, Kohli provided the explanation for Dhoni’s contact with him.
On the podcast, Kohli discussed his friendship with Dhoni as well as his time leading RCB and India, transitioning from captaincy to a senior player role, and his passionate commitment to environmental preservation.
