'I was considered as a failed captain' - Virat Kohli reflects on his tenure as India skipper

On April 2, 2011, India lifted their second ODI World Cup trophy after a long gap of 28 years at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Star India batter Virat Kohli was the youngest member of the team aged 22 and played some crucial knocks during the tournament. Kohli recently recalled the historic tournament in a podcast with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and said that he didn’t even expect to get selected for the mega event.

"I was lucky enough to be part of that team and what led to my selection was also amazing because I had a run of great scores and I ended up being in the team. I never expected it to happen. When things are meant to be. Sachin Tendulkar was playing his sixth World Cup if I am not wrong. And that was the one he won. And that was my first time and I ended up being on the winning side," he said.

A couple of years later, Kohli was part of the team which won the Champions Trophy in 2013. But since then, the now 34-year-old hasn’t won any other major tournament in limited-overs cricket either as a player or a captain, however, it doesn’t bother him.

"I'm not mad about my trophy cabinet being full. That's always been a by-product of the kind of discipline you have," Kohli said.

The Delhi-born batter is India’s most successful Test captain based on numbers. He had a great record as a captain in white-ball cricket too barring the fact that he couldn’t win an ICC tournament. Kohli further reflected upon his tenure as captain and said that people call him a failed captain but the cultural change that the team went through under his leadership is a matter of pride for him.

You play to win tournaments but that's not all: Virat Kohli

"You play to win tournaments but that's not all. A lot was made of it, to be honest. I captained the Champions Trophy in 2017, captained the 2019 World Cup, Test Championship in 2021 and we failed to qualify for the semi-finals in the 2021 T20 World Cup. We reached the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy, the semis of the World Cup (2019), and the final of WTC but I was considered as a failed captain,” he added.

“I never judged myself from that point of view. What we ended up achieving as a team, the cultural change that took place, for me, is always going to be a matter of pride. A tournament happens for a certain period but a culture happens for a long period of time. For that, you need consistency, and for that, you need more character than winning a tournament. I've won the World Cup as a player, and I've won the Champions Trophy as a player. I've been part of a team that has won five Test maces. If you look at it, there have been people who have never won a World Cup,” Kohli further said.

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