A day after he tweeted his wishes, India skipper Virat Kohli in a video on Sunday expressed his gratitude for the "friendship and belief" that he got from the talismanic senior.
“You will always be my captain..,” Kohli said in a minute long video posted on the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) official Twitter handle. He said that Dhoni's retirement is that rare moment in his life when he doesn't have enough words to express his thoughts.
"Words fall short a lot of times in life and I think this is one of those moments. All I can say is that you will always be that guy who sat in the last seat of the bus," Kohli said.
Dhoni and Kohli shared a visibly comfortable equation even after the latter took over the leader's mantle and both spoke highly of each other.
"We have shared a great camaraderie, friendship, understanding because we have always played for the same roles, same goals, which was to make the team win," he said.
"It's been a pleasure playing under you, alongside you. You showed belief in me, which I would always be grateful for. I have said it before, I will say it again, you will always be my captain," he signed off.
"I've always said this and I will say it again, you will always be my Captain," #TeamIndia Skipper @imVkohli pays his tribute to @msdhoni who announced his retirement from international cricket at 1929 hours yesterday.#ThankYouMSD pic.twitter.com/U6uWlow4lB
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 16, 2020
Dhoni announced his retirement on instagram on Saturday. The 39-year-old will, however, continue to compete in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings. Moved out of India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's IPL is scheduled to start on September 19 in the UAE.
Not only the cricketing world, even Indian politicians had hailed Dhoni after he announced his retirement. Home Minister Amit Shah said the cricketing world will miss Dhoni's helicopter shots. Tamli Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami described Dhoni as “captain cool” and said that his name will be etched in history. DMK chief MK Stalin said that the era of Dhoni will be missed.