Virat to MSD: You’ll always be my captain

New Delhi, January 6

On Friday, when he took over as India skipper in the limited-overs formats, Virat Kohli paid glowing tributes to his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni for being an inspirational leader. The new skipper took to Twitter to express his feelings about the captain under whom he made his debut in 2008. “Thanks for always being the leader a youngster wants to have around him. You’ll always be my captain @msdhoni Bhai,” Kohli tweeted.

Meanwhile, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also hailed MS Dhoni as an illustrious leader and said a lot of leadership lessons can be learnt from him. He also said Virat Kohli was no less a player and was in the right phase to take over.

“He (Dhoni) is going to be available as a player, his career was wonderful and illustrious. There are lot of leadership lessons that even the big leaders out there could learn from Dhoni,” he said. “If you ask if anyone could match or deliver his (Dhoni) level of achievement, it is going to be a Herculean task, definitely it is not going to be easy.”

Asked what he thought of Dhoni’s decision to step down, Ashwin said, “It is an individual decision. It is a professional world, I cannot give any suggestions. I think we are getting into an emotional battle, it is an individual call, I think, we have to respect it, it’s my way of showing respect to him.” — Agencies