'It's a blessing to know...': Virat Kohli opens up on text he received from MS Dhoni during his lean phase

Virat Kohli had spoken about the text he received from MS Dhoni after regaining form in the Asia Cup. After India's Super 4 round defeat to Pakistan, Kohli had revealed how Dhoni messaged him when he left Test captaincy, early this year, and spoke at length about the camaraderie between the two in a post-match presser. "When I left Test captaincy, MS Dhoni was the only one among all the cricketers I had played with before who texted me. A lot of people have my number but he was the only one who texted me. It comes from the genuine respect that we have from each other. There is no insecurity from either end in our equation."

Months later, the 34-year-old Kohli shared the details of Dhoni's text while speaking onRCB Podcastto Danish Sait. The former Indian captain said, "The only person who genuinely reached out to me was MS Dhoni. For me, that is such a blessing to know that I could have a such a strong bond and relationship with someone who is so senior to me. It's more like a friendship based on a lot of mutual respect, and that's one of the things he mentioned in the same message reaching out to me. It was, 'when you are expected to be strong and looked at as a strong individual, people forget to ask you how you are doing'."

“It hit home to me. I was like, 'this is it'. I have always been looked at like someone who is very confident, very mentally strong, who can endure any situation and circumstance, find a way and show us the way. Sometimes, what you realise is that at any given time, you really need to take a couple of steps back and understand how you are doing, how your well-being is,” the superstar cricketer further added.

When Kohli received a text from Dhoni, he was battling a rough phase with the bat. After a break, he rejoined the team during the Asia Cup and ended as the second-highest run-getter in the continental tournament, with two half-centuries and a ton, and since then, it has been no looking back for the star batter. In the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 edition, Kohli is the leading run-getter after the end of the Super 12 round and will spearhead India's batting department in the knockouts as well.

Dhoni's texts for Kohli definitely left a big and positive impact on the latter; helping him recover from his poor form and he will now look to score big and guide India to their second T20 WC title in the ongoing edition in Australia.