India’s superstar batsman Virat Kohli has been surprised by the criticism that he is a “failed” captain, despite having taken his team far in ICC tournaments. The 34-year-old cricketer went on to talk about his World Cup and Champions Trophy victories as a player.
Virat Kohli has been criticised for not leading India to an ICC title despite an impressive record as a skipper. The Men in Blue have been successful in recent tournaments, having made it to the final of the Champions Trophy in 2017 & the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup in 2019. In 2021, India’s cricket team also placed second at the first-ever World Test Championship (WTC).
Kohli confronted his criticism as a “failed captain” in season 2 of the RCB podcast. In his opinion, “Look, you compete to win tournaments. In the World Cup 2019 and Champions Trophy 2017, I led India. In 2021, I was a skipper for the World Test Championship and the T20 World Cup. After three or four ICC tournaments, I was written off as a failed captain.
With India’s elimination from the 2021 T20 World Cup, Kohli stepped down as a T20 skipper, and he had already decided before the commencement of the T20 World Cup. After that, he was taken down from his position as ODI captain and ultimately quit as Test captain.
The Indian team’s cultural shift is something Kohli is particularly pleased with, he said. The RCB star batsman stated, “I never judged myself from this point of view; what we ended up accomplishing as a team and as a cultural change that is always going to be a source of pride for me. Winning a championship is a great accomplishment, but building a culture takes time and requires more than just the right personality traits to be successful.
He continued, “As a player, I won the World Cup and the Champions Trophy. I’ve been on a squad that won five Test maces. If you take that viewpoint, some people have never won a single World Cup.
Kohli was the highest run scorer at the 2022 T20 World Cup, scoring 296 runs in six games at a strike rate of 136.41.
During their conversation, Virat Kohli revealed he was proud to be a 2011 ODI World Cup-winning team member. He felt blessed to be a part of the squad and said that bringing home the trophy for Sachin Tendulkar made it even sweeter. According to Kohli, “To be completely honest, I was lucky to be a member of that 2011 team. Also incredible is the fact that my incredible scoring streak ultimately contributed to my selection for the team. This was Sachin Tendulkar’s sixth World Cup, and he won it. I felt I truly belonged for the first time and ultimately contributed to the squad’s success.”
He stated, “I am reflecting upon things I am grateful for rather than what has gone wrong in my career. It does not bother me whether my trophy cabinet is full.”
Virat Kohli, who debuted for India in 2008, recently broke Tendulkar’s record to become the fastest player to reach 25,000 international runs.