Virat Kohli Defends MS Dhoni From His Critics

Indian skipper Virat Kohli must be a very happy man. Not only did he score his 28th ODI century against West Indies, it was once again in a winning cause as India beat teh hosts to comfortably win the ODI series.

Kohli was on the receiving end of a lot of criticism lately. While many people criticized his form with the bat, there were quite a few who were unhappy with the alleged role that he played in ousting Anil Kumble as the head coach.

So all in all, his record breaking century served well to silence all those critics that were slowly gaining in number. And his exuberant celebrations after he reached the three figure mark clearly showed a man who was letting out a lot of pent up frustration.

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Kohli also went on to defend his former captain MS Dhoni from the recent criticism that he was facing. Several people believe that Dhoni is past his sell by date, and the time has come to look towards the future.

A certain reporter even went on to claim that Dhoni did not look in great shape during the net sessions. To this, Kohli replied and backed Dhoni to be an integral part of side for many years to come.

“You have to figure out what kind of wickets you are playing on as well. I was trying to hit the spinners a couple of days in practice and I couldn’t because the wickets were not that great to play strokes, the wicket in the centre was much better.”

“You can’t really judge a guy’s batting form at practice because you don’t know what kind of wickets you are going to get.” added Kohli.

“If the bounce is not ideal then obviously you have to keep defending the ball and keep rotating strike. I think it was only in the last game he couldn’t rotate the strike and before that he got a brilliant 70 or 80 odd not out.” continued Kohli.

“In the Champions Trophy against Sri Lanka he played a brilliant knock, in the first game as well he played a brilliant knock here when it wasn’t rained out.”

He further said, “I think we get too impatient by just one game, one knock. That can happen to anyone, any batsman can struggle and any batsman can get stuck on the crease, it happens to everyone even if you are in top form it can happen to you so.

“I don’t think there are any issues because you see the knocks around, he is striking the ball beautifully and the strike rate is close to 100, if not over 100. So, not bothered by anything at all,” Kohli concluded.