Ex-India captain Virat Kohli slammed his critics who feel he is a failed captain just because he never won a ICC trophy with Indian cricket team
Former India captain Virat Kohli opened up on his performance as leader of the Men in Blue in a new podcast episode released by RCB. Kohli touched upon his record as captain in ICC tournaments, saying that many wringly feel that he is a failed captain. The 34-year-old said that people focus too much on his inability to win ICC tournaments for India and not on his other big achievements. Kohli said that one of his important contributions as captain has been the change of culture in the Indian team.
“Look you play to win tournaments, and a lot was made of it (India not winning ICC tournaments) to be honest,” Kohli said. “We reached the finals of 2017 Champions Trophy, we reached the semis of the World Cup and finals of the Test Championship, and I was considered as a failed captain. I never judged myself from that point of view,” said Kohli.
Lets look at Kohli’s performance as captain of Indian cricket team: Kohli led India in 68 Tests, and won 40 matches. He also led India in 50 T20Is, winning 30 of them. He won 65 out of the 95 ODIs he led in. Not to forget, it was under his captaincy that India won a Test series in Australia for the first time in 2019-20 tour. During his years as skipper, India achieved limited overs success away from home including historic ODI series wins in Australia and South Africa.
“What we ended up achieving as a team and the cultural change, for me that’s always going to be a matter of pride because tournaments happen for a certain period of time but a culture happens over a long period of time, and for that you need consistency, for that you need more character than just winning a tournament,” said Kohli.
Kohli also spoke briefly on his predecessor MS Dhoni’s impact on his career. Kohli said that even till date he reached out to Dhoni for career and cricket advice. He added that Dhoni is difficult to reach out because he usually keeps his phone away from himself but when he sees your call, he definitely calls you back.
