India's star cricketer Virat Kohli recently opened up about his failure to win an ICC trophy as captain. Speaking on RCB podcast, Kohli claimed that Team India went through a cultural change under his leadership but lack of ICC titles led to many considering him as a "failed captain". Notably, under Kohli's leadership, Team India reached the final of Champions Trophy in 2017. semi-final of 2019 ODI World Cup and final of World Test Championship in 2021 but failed to lift the trophy. Now, former England cricketer Monty Panesar has taken a dig at Kohli.
The former England spinner took to Twitter and wrote, "Unfortunately, that’s the pressure of being captain of India. No one remembers second or third place teams. We always remember winners of ICC tournaments."
Earlier, Kohli had said that he never judged himself on the basis of ICC trophies and rather took a pride on changing the culture of the Indian side.
“Look you play to win tournaments, and a lot was made of it (India not winning ICC tournaments) to be honest,” Kohli said. “ We reached the finals of 2017 Champions Trophy, we reached the semis of the World Cup and finals of the Test Championship, and I was considered as a failed captain. I never judged myself from that point of view.
“What we ended up achieving as a team and the cultural change, for me that’s always going to be a matter of pride because tournaments happen 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 character than just winning a tournament.”
While Team India failed to win any ICC trophies under Kohli's leadership, the Men in Blue achieved immense success in all the three formats. In Tests, Team India registered 40 wins in 68 matches, which makes him the most successful Test captain for India.
In limited overs format, India won 65 out of 95 ODIs and 30 out of 50 T20Is under Kohli's captaincy which includes historic away success in Australia and South Africa.