Team India skipper Virat Kohli has been largely successful across formats since taking over the baton from MS Dhoni, who led India to three ICC titles. Parting chairman of selectors MSK Prasad has finally revealed why they picked Kohli to fill the footsteps of the legendary skipper.
Meanwhile, Prasad's tenure came to an end a couple of days ago and was replaced by Sunil Joshi as the new Indian chief selector. Prasad said the highlight of his tenure was the smooth transition from Dhoni era to the Kohli one. Reflecting on his journey with the Indian team, MSK Prasad feels that the smooth transition from MS Dhoni's team to Virat Kohli's team has been the biggest achievement.
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Dhoni had decided to retire from Test cricket midway through the Australia tour in late 2014 paving way for Kohli – to take over as India’s Test captain. On the other hand, Kohli took over as India’s captain in all three formats after Dhoni decided to step down as limited-overs captain in 2017.
“I personally feel that my colleagues and me can take pride in the fact that we have successfully seen the transition period from MSD to Virat very well,” Prasad told Midday.
“Once Mahi completed his [captaincy] stint, we had to look at somebody who could step into those shoes. We wanted to see that happening smoothly. Once Virat took over, we reached the No. 1 ranking across all three formats. That’s the biggest satisfaction I got,” added Prasad.
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Meanwhile, the newly-picked panel led by former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi alongside Harvinder Singh, Jatin Paranjpe, Devang Gandhi, and Sarandeep Singh will sit to pick the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa. Dharamsala will host the first ODI on March 12 before Lucknow and Kolkata host the next two games on March 15 and 18 respectively.