Virat Kohli learnt these leadership lessons from MS Dhoni

Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have been star performers for India in many international series and tournaments. Initially, Virat Kohli started his international career under the guidance of MS Dhoni against Sri Lanka in 2008. Dhoni during his stint as a captain has led India to win major tournaments which include the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2007 T20 World Cup, and 2013 Champions Trophy.

When Dhoni stepped down from India’s captaincy role in January 2017, BCCI was left with a big decision as to whom would fill the shoes of the World Cup-winning captain. As a result, Virat Kohli was handed over the job of leading the India sqaud. 

Kohli who played the majority of his matches under Dhoni’s captaincy led the team for about five years. When the 35-year-old played under Dhoni’s leadership, he learnt important lessons that he later also tried to implement on the field as a skipper.

In an interview, he mentions one of the key leadership lessons he learnt from Dhoni is to take responsibility for yourself.

“Leadership is firstly to be able to take responsibility for yourself. If you can’t take responsibility for your own space and well-being, you cannot take responsibility for any other person, Kohli said on the Let There Be Sport With Puma.

“One thing I learned from MS and other people I have seen lead is you can’t make everyone happy all the time. This is the absolute truth and why that happens is certain individuals won’t buy into the intensity of what you are saying immediately. So, they try to find their own comfortable ways which you have to ignore because the vision is priority,” Kohli further added.

In 2019, Kohli emerged as India’s most successful captain in Test cricket. After winning a two-Test series against West Indies in August 2019, Kohli went past the landmark record of Dhoni’s 27 Test wins. Moreover, he is currently India’s most successful captain in away Tests, winning 13 games.

After India was eliminated from the 2021 T20 World Cup, Kohli stepped down from India’s T20I captaincy role. Later, he was also replaced as the captain of India’s ODI squad. He also stepped down from Test captaincy, following a 1-2 defeat to South Africa in a nail-biting Test series in 2022.

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