‘I was considered as a failed captain’: Virat Kohli on not winning an international trophy with India

Former India captain Virat Kohli led the Indian Cricket Team in four International tournaments - Champions Cup 2017, World Championship 2019, World Championship Test 2021, and World T20 Cup 2021 - but he failed to create a strong impact and win in either of them.

Under Virat's tenure as a captain, India attained the final of the Champions Cup in 2017 but were defeated by arch-rivals Pakistan with a huge margin of 180 runs. In the 2019 World Championship, India failed to qualify further than the semi-final where they lost against New Zealand. The World Championship Test 2021 witnessed an in-form India team lose the clash with New Zealand by a margin of 8 wickets.

Virat on this Saturday stated that even after reaching the semi-final and finals of the International tournaments, he has been pitched as a “failed captain.” The run machine lost the captaincy from all formats last year after a long controversy with the Indian apex council.

“Look, you play to win tournaments. I captained in Champions Cup in 2017 (reached the final), the 2019 World Championship (reached the semifinal), I captained in World Championship Test (reached the final), and T20 World Championship in 2021 (failed to qualify for the knockouts). After three (four) International tournaments, I was considered a failed captain,” said Virat on a Podcast.

Kohli, who led the India Under-19 team to a World Championship victory in 2008, said getting a cultural change in the Indian team will be an event of pride for him.

“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,” he expressed.

“I won a World Championship as a player. I won the Champions Cup 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 Championship.” 

Kohli also reflected the 2011 ODI World Championship glory when the former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni led India to a title win in front of a heavily crowded Wankhede stadium.

"To be honest, I was lucky enough to be part of that 2011 team. And what led to my selection was also amazing because I had a great run of great scores, and I ended up being with the team. Sachin Tendulkar was playing in his sixth World Championship, and that was the one he won. I was able to be a part of the team for the first time, and I ended up being part of the winning side," he spoke.

“I am looking back at things that I am grateful for not what has gone wrong in my career. I am not mad for my trophy cabinet to be full," Kohli, who has participated in 105 Tests, 271 ODIs, and 115 T20Is for India in a career spanning 15 long years and still going has scored over 25000 international runs in the process.