MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli – the names that none of the cricket fans could easily forget. Though Virat didn’t bag any ICC trophies for India as captain like MSD, he is considered the potential player to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 centuries.
Ravi Shastri Picks Between Virat And Dhoni’s Captaincy Styles
Both Virat and MS Dhoni have unique characters on the field. MS Dhoni is well known for his cool and calm approach whereas Virat is loved for his aggressive nature on the field.
Under MS Dhoni, India won the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. On the other hand, Kohli led Team India to new heights in the longest format of the game.
Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri gave an epic reply in being asked to pick between Kohli and Dhoni’s captaincy styles.
“Dono Chaiye Mujhe Side Mein. Dono Bilkul. Ek Thanda, Ek Garma Garma. Aur Main Beech Mein Fit Hunga (I need both in my team. Both absolutely. One cool, one hot. I will fit in the middle,” Shastri replied to a fan’s query in a video uploaded by Star Sports.
Notably, Virat Kohli made his debut for India under Dhoni’s captaincy in all three formats, before taking over captaincy the Test captaincy in 2015 after MS Dhoni announced his retirement.
MS Dhoni played the final two years of his international career under Kohli’s captaincy after he resigned from Test captaincy in 2017.
On many occasions, Virat Kohli praised MS Dhoni for his backup. Kohli also revealed that Dhoni was the only former player who contacted him personally during his tough run of form after he quit Test captaincy in January 2022.
“When I left Test captaincy, I got a message from only one person, with whom I played in the past. It was MS Dhoni. A lot of people have my number, a lot of people give me suggestions, and a lot of people talk about my game on TV. But out of those people who had my number, I didn’t get a message from anyone else barring Dhoni,” Kohli had said.
MS Dhoni managed to win three ICC trophies – T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy – for India as captain. On the other hand, Virat Kohli led India in two ICC events only for the team to bow out in semis and in the group stage of the 2019 and 2021 events respectively.
However, when it comes to Test cricket, Virat Kohli turned out to be better than MS Dhoni. Kohli won 40 out of 68 Test matches as captain while Dhoni could only win 27 games after leading India in 60 Tests.
In T20Is and ODIs, MS Dhoni was the master winning 42 and 74 matches respectively as India captain in 72 and 200 matches in respective formats. On the other hand, Virat Kohli was also brilliant in ODIs winning 65 out of 95 matches as captain. In T20Is too he was great leading India to 30 wins in 50 captains.
Virat Kohli led India in 213 matches across formats and won 135 of them. His success rate as India’s captain is one of the best in the history of the sport. Notably, Virat Kohli won two out of five matches as captain against Pakistan in 4 ODIs and 1 T20I.
