English
New Delhi: Star India cricketer Harbhajan Singh expressed that Virat Kohli could have won more trophies during his tenure as India’s white-ball captain. Meanwhile, former Australian cricketer Tom Moody labelled Kohli’s white-ball captaincy as a “disappointment.”
While speaking on the ‘Rise of Champions’ programme on JioHotstar, ahead of India’s preparations to defend their ICC T20 World Cup title next year, a tournament will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. India will kick off their campaign against the USA on February 7 and are placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, Namibia, the Netherlands, and the USA.
Commenting on India’s prospects, former Australian captain and 2021 T20 World Cup winner Aaron Finch said, “When you are an Indian team with so much experience and skill, people look at the team sheet and assume they have to win. It is a remarkable team, but that reputation carries its own weight as well.”
Harbhajan expressed his disappointment with Virat Kohli’s stint as a white-ball captain, especially when compared to his outstanding success as India’s Test skipper. Despite leading the side for several years in limited-overs formats, India failed to clinch a major trophy during his tenure. The team suffered a crushing 180-run defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final, fell short by 18 runs against New Zealand in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal while chasing 240, and exited the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup at the group stage following heavy losses to Pakistan and New Zealand.
Harbhajan said, “The kind of team Virat had, they could have won three or four trophies. Nahi jeete kuch toh karan honge, but I still feel unke paas achhi team thi (If they did not win, there must be a reason, but I still think he had a solid team).”
Sanjay Manjrekar also spoke abut team selection during the Kohli-Shastri era, and said, “Team selection under Ravi and Virat was always my biggest concern.”
However, South African batting great and Virat Kohli’s close friend AB de Villiers offered a different perspective, saying that, “he feels irritated when players are judged on the basis of having won a World Cup.”
“Frankly, it irritates me that people always judge a captain solely on whether they have won a World Cup. Saying ‘that guy is useless because he has not won a World Cup’ is unfair,” he added.
Summing up the Virat Kohli’s era, Tom Moody concluded, “The Virat Kohli era was an era of high expectation, but ultimately, disappointment.”
Under Virat leadership, India played a total of 50 T20Is, winning 30, losing 16, tying two, and two ending in no result, with a win percentage of 60 percent. Virat captained the India side in 95 ODIs, winning 65, losing 27, one ending in a tie, and two being no results.
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