Former India skipper Virat Kohli has opened up on being termed as a ‘failed’ captain, despite leading the country to the knockouts of ICC tournaments on several occasions. He has often been criticized for not winning an ICC trophy as a captain for India. However, the cricketer pointed out that he has won the Champions Trophy and the 2011 World Cup as a player.
In the RCB Podcast Season 2, Virat Kohli spoke about his Team India captaincy. He expressed that despite a good captaincy record, he was considered a failed captain. The veteran cricketer quit as the T20 captain following the 2021 World Cup. Later, he was sacked as the skipper of the ODI team. While last year, Kohli stepped down as the Test captain.
“Look, you play to win tournaments. I captained in Champions Trophy 2017 (reached the final), 2019 WOrld CUp (reached the semifinal), I captained in World Test Championship (reached the final), and T20 World Cup in 2021 (failed to qualify for the knockouts). After three ICC tournaments, I was considered as a failed captain,” said Virat Kohli on RCB Podcast season 2.
The cultural change we achieved is a matter of pride for me: Virat Kohli
During Virat Kohli’s leadership tenure, the skipper brought a culture change to Team India. The fitness revolution in the Indian team is highly credited to him. The veteran cricketer expressed that the cultural change will always be a matter of pride for him. The Royal Challengers Bangalore batter said,
“I never judged myself from that point of view. What we ended up achieving as a team and as a cultural change that always going to be a matter of pride for me.”
“A tournament happens 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 characters than just winning a tournament. I won a World Cup as a player. You won the Champions Trophy as a player. I have been part of the team that has won five Test maces. If you look at that point of view there have been people, who have never won a World Cup,” he added.
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