Dilip Vengsarkar revealed after 12 years, Dhoni did not want Virat to be selected in Team India

Mumbai. India won the Under-19 World Cup in 2008 under the leadership of Virat Kohli. He was the star player of the team and BCCI’s Senior Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar was aware of his talent. Despite the refusal of captain MS Dhoni and chief coach Gary Kirsten, he was selected in the Indian team for the tour of Sri Lanka.

Vengsarkar had to pay the cost of choosing young Virat Kohli in the team instead of Tamil Nadu’s S. Badrinath. Dilip Vengsarkar said, “I and my selection committee were in favor of giving a chance to the young players but captain Dhoni and Chief Coach Kirsten said that they have not seen Virat Kohli playing, so they don’t want any change in the team.” Dilip Vengsarkar and his selection committee stood firm on their decision and selected Virat Kohli in the team.

However, Vengsarkar had to pay the price, because he was targeted by the then Board President N Srinivasan for not taking S Badrinath of Tamil Nadu into the team. Vengsarkar said, Virat Kohli was technically competent, so we believed that he should get a chance.

We were going to Sri Lanka and it was an ideal situation for him to be in the team. When I talked about selecting him in the team, my fellow selectors said, Dilip bhai as you think right. When Dhoni and Gary said, we have not seen him (Virat) playing, I said, even though you have not seen him playing, but I have seen him playing and we have to take him into the team.