February 23, 2026 01:48 am (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Rahul Gandhi slams Modi as ‘compromised’, says PM can’t renegotiate India-US trade deal | Terror alert in Delhi: LeT may target Chandni Chowk with IED, say reports | US Supreme Court shocks Donald Trump on tariffs — but India may still end up paying more | PM Modi warns ‘AI must not control humans’ as India unveils bold tech vision at AI Impact Summit 2026 | Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life over failed martial law bid | Tata Group joins hands with OpenAI in massive AI push to transform India and global industries | Epstein Files row: Bill Gates to skip keynote address at AI Summit 2026 | AI Impact Summit: Google launches game-changing America-India Connect plan with $15 billion backing | AI takes centre stage as Modi meets Google CEO Sundar Pichai in Delhi | G7 Spotlight: Emmanuel Macron invites Narendra Modi for 2026 Summit
Virat Kohli
(From L to R) Virat Kohli-MS Dhoni and Sunil Gavaskar | Image Credit: Twitter/Virat Kohli and Wikipedia

'What message did he want? Encouragement?': Sunil Gavaskar slams Virat Kohli over sole Dhoni text comment

| @indiablooms | Sep 06, 2022, at 05:29 pm

India's star batsman Virat Kohli's recalling that it was only his immediate predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni who had texted him after he quit Test captaincy has not gone down well with cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar.

After the India-Pakistan Super Four match, Kohli at a press conference recalled no one except Dhoni reached out to him after he stepped down from the captaincy in red ball cricket.

Kohli said, "I can say one thing that when I announced my resignation from Test captaincy, I got a message from only one person with whom I played earlier, that is MS Dhoni.

"Many people have my number...many people give suggestions on TV...but the people who had my number, nobody messaged. The respect, the connection that you have with somebody, when that is genuine, it shows this way."

In a sharp counter, Gavaskar said on India Today, "I don't know what the dressing room inside-situation was with all these other players. Ideally, if he has named one person who got in touch, then maybe the other persons who didn't get in touch should have also been named.

"That would have been a little bit fair to everybody concerned, rather than thinking that everybody else didn't get in touch with him."

"What message did he want. Encouragement? But then he is done with captaincy, so why would he need encouragement? That chapter (captaincy) is already closed," the former cricketer said on Sports Tak.

Kohli, who has gone through a lean patch for a quite long time, returned to form in the ongoing Asia Cup with two consecutive half centuries, first against Hong Kong and then Pakistan.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.