My time was right: MS Dhoni reveals why he let Virat Kohli take over India captaincy

Ranchi: Former India captain MS Dhoni recently revealed the reason why he gave up captaincy and passed the baton to Virat Kohli.

Dhoni was speaking at a motivational event conducted by the Central Industrial Security Force which was held at the Birsa Munda Airport here.

"I resigned from captaincy because I wanted the new captain (Virat Kohli) to get enough time for preparing a team before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019," the 37-year-old said.

He also backed his own decision of giving up captaincy at the right time.

"Selecting a strong team without giving the new captain appropriate time isn’t possible. I believe that I left the captaincy at the right time”, the World Cup-winning captain said.

The veteran cricketer, who only plays limited-overs games since reitiring from Tests in 2014, admitted that Kohli and co should have played practice matches before the series.

“Indian team missed out on playing practices matches before the series, which is why the batsmen are finding it difficult to adjust. This is a part of game. We shouldn’t forget that India is currently No. 1 in the rankings,” he continued.

Kohli ended the recently-concluded Test series as the top run-getter with 593 runs, but his team lost the series 1-4 to the hosts.

India’s only win came in the third Test in Nottingham, where they denied the hosts an easy chance to seal the series.  

It was a memorable farewell for Alastair Cook in the fifth Test as England beat India by 118 runs despite fighting efforts by KL Rahul (149 runs) and Rishab Pant (114 runs).