MS Dhoni opened up on his healthy camaraderie with Virat Kohli but refused to divulge details of a text message he had sent to the RCB stalwart during his lean patch phase in international cricket.
In 2022, Kohli had revealed in a press conference that Dhoni was the only cricketer who reached out to him after he stepped down as Test captain.
Speaking to JioStar ahead of the IPL 2025 season, Dhoni was enquired about the message to Kohli, but the CSK icon chose to keep it private.
"I will talk about the relationship, not the message. I like to keep it the way it is. What it does is, it lets other cricketers come to me and ask if they have anything in their mind," Dhoni said.
"They have the feeling: 'Speak whatever you want to him, nothing will come out. Whatever we speak, a third person wouldn't know it'. That trust is very important, especially for cricketers who you have not played with, who you might never play with. But, hey might need some help, regarding cricket, regarding life. So, I have kept it that way," he added.
Dhoni went on to explain how his relationship with Kohli evolved over the years, saying they are good friends off the field.
"Me and Virat, right from the start he was someone who wanted to contribute. He was someone who was never happy with 40 or 60. He wanted to score a hundred and remain not out in the end. That hunger was there right from the start. He quickly improved his batting, and that will to perform and score was what kept him going. He raised his fitness levels. He has always been like that," Dhoni stated.
"He would come and talk to me, asking questions like, ‘What could I have done differently here?’ He would tell me he got out at a particular moment in a chase. We had a lot of conversations. That really opened us up.
"I gave him honest opinions. That’s how the relationship grew. It was more of a captain and a newcomer at that point in time. But once you keep interacting, you become friends.
"I still feel that there is a line in the middle - of a senior and a junior. But we are still friends. So, we have an amazing companionship. Both of us are not captains now, which gives us more time together before the toss," he remarked.
Kohli made his India debut under Dhoni’s captaincy in 2008. When Dhoni stepped down as captain and retired midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014/15 in Australia, Kohli took over the Test captaincy.
Dhoni even played under Kohli's captaincy for two years in white-ball cricket. They played 285 matches together for India between 2008 and 2019.
Dhoni and Kohli will be up against each other when CSK host RCB in an IPL 2025 match at Chepauk on Saturday (March 29).
