Dhoni is K L Rahul's role model as captain

K L Rahul made his debut in all three formats under M S Dhoni, and like on all other players, the recently retired cricketer has left a lasting impression on the Karnataka batsman.

As the 28-year-old readies himself to lead the Kings XI Punjab in the forthcoming Indian Premier League, he said that while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were quite good, Dhoni has been his role model when it came captaincy.

"It has always been MS Dhoni," said Rahul. "I’m grateful that I’ve had the honour of playing under him and with him. Even Rohit (Sharma) is quite a good captain, Virat (Kohli) is a phenomenal captain. I have learned a lot from all of them and hopefully, I can use all of that knowledge when I am captaining."

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Rahul said he was "shocked" and "heartbroken" when he heard the news about Dhoni's retirement from international cricket.

"It was quite shocking, I was honestly heartbroken," he said when asked about what he made of Dhoni's sudden announcement. "I mean, I am sure all of us in the team and all of us, who have played under him and with him, would have wanted to give him a big send-off, would have wanted him to play one more time so that we could have had that opportunity to do something special for him. But it is what it is. We have all played under him. He is someone who has guided us really, really well, who has never expected us to change, who has let us go out and express ourselves and make our mistakes and learn from them. He just let us be. If we were ever in doubt, if we could look up to somebody for answers, he was always there. He knew when to push the players," he remarked.

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The 28-year-old said words failed him when he wanted to write something about his former skipper on social media platforms.

"Words fall short, even the other day when I had to write something on Instagram or Twitter, what do you say about somebody like that? You don’t have enough to say, on how much he has done, how many lives he has changed and for how many he has been an inspiration; not just on the field but off it as a human being, the things that he has achieved is phenomenal."