Ishant Sharma player under the leadership of both MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. (Sportzpics) Indian pacer Ishant Sharma has opened up about the differences between playing under MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli’s captaincy during his career. The 37-year-old said that the former believed in going with the flow of the game, while the latter had a plan in place before the match and adapted based on how the game moved.
Ishant played under Dhoni’s captaincy from 2008-2014 and later played under Kohli’s leadership from
2015-2019.
“Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) ke team main difference kya tha? Mahi bhai aise insaan hai jo field pe cheezay karte hai. Unko field pe karna pasand hai. The planning occurred based on the game situation. (What was different about playing under MS Dhoni? Mahi bhai was someone who did things on the field. He liked doing things on the field)”.
“With Virat (Kohli), that wasn’t the case. There was a basic plan, and then based on how things progressed, we assessed and made decisions. MS Dhoni was not a big believer in meetings. He had a simple funda that you will learn only if you make mistakes. He thought that if you made one mistake and how much time you take to make the next mistake, that is consistency,” Ishant said on Raj Shamani’s podcast.
Ishant also recalled the advice MS Dhoni gave to the team during the 2013 Champions Trophy final. The lanky pacer said that Dhoni told them that if the Men in Blue were to win the match, they had to work things out on their own, adding that god was not coming to save them.
“During the 2013 Champions Trophy final, it was raining and everyone thought the game would be washed out. He said, yeh match hoga, chota hoga par yeh mat sochna ki bhagwan aake match jeetayega. Khudh he kuch karna padega, sab cheezay. Bhagwaan pe maano, lekin khudh pe vishwas karo.” (This match will happen. It would be a shortened game, but don’t think that god will come and win you the game. You will need to do everything on your own. He says have faith in god, but have belief in your own self too),” Ishant said.
India won the 2013 Champions Trophy, beating hosts England by five wickets. Dhoni retired from Test cricket in 2014 and from all forms of international cricket in 2020. Virat Kohli retired from T20Is after the World Cup triumph in 2024. He announced his retirement from Test cricket in May 2025.
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