Indian cricket team has excelled a lot under the current skipper Virat Kohli. The Men in Blue have achieved success in all three formats of the game. Many feel that Kohli’s leadership alone has helped the Indian team grow, but very few cricket fans can note that the team’s former skipper MS Dhoni played a crucial role in Kohli’s success.
Dhoni always guided Kohli during tense situations in ODIs and T20Is till 2019. Besides, just like Rahul Dravid and Ganguly gave Dhoni a team of match-winners in 2007, Dhoni returned the favor by giving seven game-changers to Kohli.
In this article, we will look at the top 7 Indian match-winners that MS Dhoni gave to Virat Kohli.
7.Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma, just like Shikhar Dhawan, got a career reprieve when MS Dhoni named him as the new opener of Team India for Champions Trophy 2013. Rohit led the Mumbai Indians to their first IPL title that year and he continued his fine form in the international arena.
Currently, he is one of the best T20I and ODI batsmen in the world, and he is the only man with three ODI double hundreds.
6.Ravindra Jadeja
Many fans would remember how Ravindra Jadeja used to get trolled in the past because of his failures. MS Dhoni still backed him and transformed him into one of the best all-rounders in the world.
Jadeja can perform well in all three departments and in all three formats. He is a rare gem in the world of cricket.
5.Shikhar Dhawan
Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan’s career changed after MS Dhoni picked him in the Champions Trophy 2013 squad and allowed him to open the innings for Team India. Dhawan won the Golden Bat award in that tournament.
Dhawan has been one of India’s best ODI batsmen under Kohli’s captaincy and Kohli owes that to Dhoni.
4.Cheteshwar Pujara
The fans would remember that Cheteshwar Pujara was initially dropped from the Indian team after Virat Kohli took over. However, MS Dhoni had brought him into the Indian team in 2010 only because he was a special player.
Nicknamed as ‘Rahul Dravid 2.0’ Pujara has played many memorable knocks for Virat Kohli’s Test team in the recent past.
3.Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Bhuvneshwar Kumar made his international debut against Pakistan in 2012. He was billed as the next Praveen Kumar of the Indian team. MS Dhoni backed him and made him one of the best fast bowlers in India before quitting captaincy.
Although he has failed to deal with injury problems, Bhuvneshwar has been an asset to Virat in his era.
2.Hardik Pandya
The other youngster that MS Dhoni brought into the Indian team in 2016 was Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder is among the top five all-rounders in world cricket right now. MS Dhoni backed him even though he did not bowl well in his first match.
Hardik Pandya is one of the most well-known celebrities in Indian cricket now, all thanks to the chance that MS Dhoni gave.
1.Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin rose to fame after playing well for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. MS Dhoni backed the Tamil Nadu-based player to perform well and his off-spin bowling helped India win many matches.
After Dhoni quit the captaincy position, Ashwin became the number one spinner of Virat Kohli’s team in Tests. He is the team’s number one off-spin bowler in Tests right now.
