Only Dhoni texted me when I left Test captaincy, reveals Kohli

Indian star batter Virat Kohli, since stepping down as captain in all three formats, has been quiet and has not revealed much but spoke about what happened after he resigned as India's Test captain in January.

The 33-year-old's form has been one of the talking points and there have been calls to drop him from T20Is but the star player has come back into his groove and is among the top run getters in the Asia Cup 2022. 

Virat Kohli addressed the presser shortly after Pakistan defeated India by five wickets in the Super 4 match of the Asia Cup 2022, the former India captain made a revelation that left all journalists and reporters equally stunned.

"I can tell you one thing. And that is when I left Test captaincy, I got a message from only one person with whom I had played earlier, and that is MS Dhoni. This is when many people had my number. A lot of people gave suggestions on TV, and they have a lot to say but all those who had my number, no one messaged me. So the thing is, when there is respect, when you have a connection such as this, it shows, because there is security both ways. I don't want anything from him and neither does he. I have never been insecure of him and neither has he," Kohli said 

"All I can say is that if I have to say something about someone, I reach out to him individually. If you give suggestions in front of the world, there is no value to it as per me because if it means to me and for my improvement, you can reach out to me one on one as well, like 'I genuinely want that you do well'. I live with a lot of honesty, so I can see these things. I won't say that it doesn't matter to me, but I can see the truth. That is the way I live."

Kohli gave an indirect response to his critics, saying that if there were people who generally cared about him, would have reached out to him directly than make statements about his form in public.

"I've played for 14 years, it doesn't happen by chance. My job is to work hard on my game, something that I am always keen to do for the team and something that I continue to do. Everyone's doing their job eventually, our job is to play the game, work hard, give our 120 percent and I've said it in the past that as long as I am doing that and the team has faith in that, what happens in the change room is the only thing that matters to us, and to me personally," he said.

"People have their opinions and that's absolutely fine but that doesn't change my happiness as a person. I've taken some time away, put things in perspective. It's given me kind of a relaxation that this is not the be-all and end-all of life. I need to enjoy the game, I can't put so much pressure of expectation on myself, that I am not able to express myself. That is not why I started playing this game," he concluded.