Kohli has the recipe to lead India: Dhoni

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After the clean sweep against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is now plotting another powerful performance when the latter come here during October-November for a limited-over series.

“We have the Champions League first which is not an international tournament. After that, Australia are coming to India and that is very important,” Dhoni said at a promotional event here on Monday.
“We have not done very well against them here and will try to do well this time. During that time, the dew will come into the picture, so the toss will be crucial.”
Australia will play seven one-dayers and one T20 against the hosts the tour.Australia’s visit will be followed by a tough trip to South Africa for Dhoni and his men but the 32-year-old reasserted his theory of not looking too far ahead when asked about the fast and pacy conditions there. But he did say that the members of the India A team, currently in South Africa, would gain immensely from the exposure.
“It’s a great experience for them. It gives them the time to adapt to the conditions and it will help them when we go there later,” Dhoni said.
The bench strength has done well in Zimbabwe and now on the South Africa tour but the India skipper did not agree with the idea of a young side. “I don’t really agree with the idea of a young side. Age is not a factor, what matters is how fit for you are. As a batsman or a bowler, if you are performing, it doesn’t matter whether you are 40 or 45. Until you are a liability on the field, age really doesn’t matter,” he said hinting that out-of-favour seniors like Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh could still make it to the national squad.
Dhoni, however, was very happy with the way Virat Kohli led the side in his absence and marked him out as a future skipper. “He has been really good. The best thing is that he is expressive. As an individual, you need to be yourself on the field. He has changed a lot in recent times which is a very good sign for us. In Zimbabwe, he led the team really well. He has all the right recipes (to lead India),” Dhoni said.
Having achieved everything as a skipper, Dhoni, arguably the best currently in the limited-overs format, makes his way into any number of dream teams, but he himself has no intention of naming one.
“I have no intention of naming an all-time time team because eras are different. It will be very tough for me. It’s like mixing the parts of a two-stroke bike with a four-stroke one. I would like to respect every player who has played even one Test for the country.”