"I Was Considered A Failed Captain": Virat Kohli Makes Shocking Revelation

Indian cricket team star batsman Virat Kohli opened up about the criticism he faced for not winning an ICC tournament as a captain and how he was considered a “failed captain” by a section of experts and fans. In a recent interaction, Kohli said that although he was successful in taking the national side to the knockout stages of various top competitions, the lack of trophies became a bigger point of discussion. However, the former India skipper was quick to point out that the criticism did not make him judge himself at any point and he takes pride at the cultural change that came under him.

“Look, you play to win tournaments. I captained in Champions Trophy 2017, 2019 World Cup, I captained in World Test Championship, and T20 World Cup in 2021. After three (four) ICC tournaments, I was considered as a failed captain,” said Kohli on the RCB Podcast.

“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 explained.

Kohli won the ICC World Cup trophy in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013 but on both occasions, he won it as a player under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.

“I won a World Cup as a player. I 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 said when asked about the impact of the criticism.