Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh believes Team India failed to fully capitalise on their potential in ICC tournaments during Virat Kohli’s captaincy. He pointed out that despite boasting a formidable squad and frequently occupying the top spot in the rankings, India ended Kohli’s tenure without an ICC title across formats.
Kohli captained the team largely between 2015 and 2022, registering an impressive 135 victories in 213 matches. Nonetheless, India endured several agonising setbacks, including defeats in the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2021 World Test Championship.
The team also suffered a crushing semi-final exit against New Zealand at the 2019 ODI World Cup, despite dominating the league phase. Speaking on JioStar about Virat Kohli’s captaincy tenure ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup, Harbhajan Singh remarked (as quoted by NDTV):
“The kind of team Virat had, they could have won three or four trophies. If they did not win, there must be a reason, but I still think he had a solid team.”
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar also opined that team selection remained a recurring concern throughout Virat Kohli’s tenure as captain.
“Team selection under Ravi and Virat was always my biggest concern,” he stated.
“Irritating to judge a captain only by World Cup wins” – AB de Villiers
Former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers came out in support of Virat Kohli, criticising the tendency to assess a captain purely on World Cup success. He highlighted that despite falling short in white-ball ICC tournaments, India recorded 95 wins in 145 ODIs and T20Is under Kohli’s leadership.
“Frankly, it irritates me that people always judge a captain solely on whether they have won a World Cup. Saying ‘that guy is useless because he has not won a World Cup’ is unfair,” said De Villiers (via the aforementioned source).
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