During his time as Team India captain, Virat Kohli orchestrated numerous memorable victories across the three formats of the game. Under Kohli's leadership, India reigned supreme in several bilateral series and rose to greater heights by playing an impeccable brand of cricket. While the victories came thick and fast in the bilateral series with Kohli at the helm, the Men in Blue continued to struggle at the ICC tournaments. Fans and former cricketers have often criticised Kohli for not leading the national team to an ICC title like his predecessor MS Dhoni.
In the opening episode of the RCB Podcast Season 2, Kohli reacted to the criticism and underlined that he brought around a 'cultural change' in the team despite not winning an ICC trophy.
"Look, you play to win tournaments. I captained in Champions Trophy 2017 (reached the final), 2019 World Cup (reached the semifinal), I captained in World Test Championship (reached the final), and T20 World Cup in 2021 (failed to qualify for the knockouts). After three ICC tournaments, I was considered as a failed captain," said Kohli.
"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. I won a World Cup as a player. You 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 added.
Kohli captained India in 213 matches, leading the team to 135 wins across format during his time at the helm.
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