History will remember Virat Kohli the captain for bringing a ruthless winning mindset into Indian cricket. Kohli initiated some changes that the BCCI and the top brass are inculcating now (focus on fitness, important to prioritise the World Cup at the expense of IPL and workload management among others). However, since the national side couldn’t win a single trophy under Kohli as the captain, the BCCI didn’t take much time to sack him as captain of the ODI side after he stepped down from the role in the T20Is.
Kohli had mentioned then that he was informed 90 minutes before the selection committee meeting that he was being removed as captain in ODIs, which sparked a huge furore and difference of opinions between the then BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and chief selector Chetan Sharma. Speaking about the whole episode, Kohli said that he was considered a failed captain since he couldn’t win a single ICC tournament but he doesn’t believe in the notion. According to Kohli, leadership is about building a culture rather than being measured by a trophy, as it is a short-term thing.
Speaking on RCB Podcast Season 2, “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.
“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 elaborated.
Kohli, who has won a couple of ICC tournaments as a player under MS Dhoni’s leadership (ICC World Cup trophy in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013 ), considered himself lucky that at least he has a couple of titles under his belt as some players never even achieved that.
“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 further said.
With all focus being on the ICC Cricket World Cup returning to India, which is scheduled to take place later this year, Kohli and the current skipper Rohit Sharma would want to give it their all considering this could be their last 50-over World Cup.
