MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma are different from Virat Kohli 'beyond the ground': Reports

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday confirmed that Team India's current full-time skipper Virat Kohli will be stepping down as the T20I skipper after the conclusion of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, 2021 that will be played in the UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14. Meanwhile, a former India player has reportedly revealed why Kohli could not be a successful leader like his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni and at the same time has also highlighted the difference between Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in terms of leadership abilities.

"The problem with Virat is his communication. In the case of MS (Dhoni), his room would be open 24x7, and players could just walk in, play the PS4, have a meal and let their hair down and if required talk cricket."

"Beyond the ground, Kohli is literally incommunicado," a former India player, who has seen Kohli's early days of captaincy, told PTI during an informal chat.

"Rohit has shades of MSD but in a different manner. He takes the junior players out for meals, gives them a friendly pat on the back when they are down, and knows the mental aspects of a player's make-up inside out," the ex-cricketer said. The former cricketer also criticised Virat Kohli for not backing the struggling players when it matters the most as he gave examples of the chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and senior Test pacer Umesh Yadav to name a few.

"Kuldeep Yadav, after a five-wicket haul in Australia, went downhill. Ditto for Rishabh Pant when he wasn't in form. Umesh Yadav, a senior bowler, who is a workhorse on Indian pitches, never gets an answer on why he is not considered till someone gets injured?" Meanwhile, another cricketer, who is privy to Kohli's chop-and-change policy, said, "He speaks about communication at media conferences but this is the truth that he has hardly hand-held any player when they needed their captain the most."

While MS Dhoni has led Team India to all the major title triumphs in his illustrious captaincy career, Kohli's white-ball deputy Rohit Sharma has also made a tremendous impact when he was named captain on a couple of occasions. Rohit Sharma led India to the Nidhas Trophy tri-series triumph against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in March 2018 and then led them to an Asia Cup victory later that year. He was the stand-in captain as Kohli was on rest during those series.

After Kohli's appointment as Team India's full-time captain in January 2017, he led the Men In Blue to their maiden bilateral ODI series win on South African soil in 2018 and first-ever Test, as well as bilateral ODI series wins in Australia. However, he as a leader could not make any impact as far as multi-nation tournaments are concerned. India lost to arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final and suffered a heartbreaking 18-run defeat at the hands of the eventual runners-up New Zealand in the World Cup 2019 semi-final. Kane Williamson & Co. had beaten the Virat Kohli-led side in the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship final earlier this year.

(With inputs from PTI)

(Image: PTI)