‘Virat Kohli was somebody who always wanted to go out’ – Sanjay Bangar on Kohli and Dhoni’s off-field bond

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has disclosed that he rarely witnessed Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni spending time together away from the cricket field, pointing to their sharply contrasting personalities as the central reason for the distance.

Bangar described how the two Indian greats approached downtime on tour in entirely different ways. While Dhoni preferred the comfort of his hotel room, Kohli was driven by a desire to explore. Bangar was careful to note that there may have been moments of off-field bonding between the two that fell outside his own observation during his time with the Indian team setup.

“I don’t think they have spent much time off the field because MS Dhoni likes being in his room only. Although he always had an open door, anyone could go to his room and talk, it wasn’t possible for him to go out and spend time because people wanted his attention. Whenever such opportunities were available, he didn’t like going out, but Virat Kohli was somebody who always wanted to go out, go to new places or new restaurants. So I have rarely seen them spending time off the field,” Bangar said, speaking on DD Sports’ Great Indian Cricket Show.

What did Bangar say about Dhoni’s role in shaping Kohli’s career?

Beyond the off-field dynamic, Bangar spoke at length about the professional foundation that Dhoni laid for Kohli during the early stages of his international journey. Kohli’s debut came under Dhoni’s captaincy during India’s 2008 ODI tour of Sri Lanka, and Bangar stressed that the backing Dhoni offered in those formative years proved decisive.

“The biggest thing is that he was his first captain. When a young player comes, a captain has to first do a little hand-holding. When a new player comes, he needs to be made a little secure. Either the coaches or the captain does those talks,” Bangar stated. Secondly, if a player fails, can he create extra opportunities for him? MS Dhoni did that extremely well in Virat Kohli’s career in the initial phases. Once they realized each other’s importance, it became a mutual-respect relationship. I wouldn’t say they have a relationship of friends, but they have mutual respect for each other,” Bangar said.

How long did Kohli and Dhoni represent India as teammates?

The two players shared the Indian dressing room across formats for well over a decade. Dhoni stepped away from Test cricket in December 2014, yet the pair continued appearing for India in limited-overs cricket through to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, giving them an unusually long run as international teammates.

That extended period as colleagues across formats provided the backdrop for the mutual respect Bangar described, even if it did not translate into the kind of close personal friendship that fans might have imagined between two of India’s greatest modern cricketers.