If I would’ve been part of Virat Kohli-led India, we would have won 3 World Cups: S Sreesanth

Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s stint as captain ended earlier this year as Rohit Sharma replaced Kohli as the full-time captain in ODI and Test formats. The Delhi-born batsman had earlier relinquished T20I captaincy, following the ICC T20I World Cup.

Despite having had his fair share of successes across formats, Kohli’s biggest regret would be that he could never win an ICC trophy as India’s captain. Having led the Men in Blue in three ICC tournaments, after taking over from the legendary MS Dhoni, Kohli could never inspire his side to an ICC title. 

The closest India got to winning an ICC title under Kohli was back in 2017, when they were thrashed by arch-rivals Pakistan in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy. Later in the 2019 ODI World Cup, India had a splendid run to the semifinal, but fell short by 18 runs and were knocked out of the semis by New Zealand. 

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During the ICC 2021 T20 World Cup, India failed to qualify for the knockout rounds, which proved to be a sad ending to Kohli’s captaincy stint in the T20I format. 

Although, in a recent interview with CricChat on the ShareChat Audio Chatroom, former Indian pacer S Sreesanth claimed that he could have helped Kohli lift three World Cups if he had been part of the Indian team. 

“If I would have been a part of the team under Virat’s captaincy, India would have won the World Cup in 2015, 2019 & 2021,” he stated, even though it wasn’t Kohli who led India at the ICC ODI World Cup, instead it was MS Dhoni. 

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Meanwhile, the veteran finally decided to hang up his boots earlier this year, announcing his retirement after representing his country in 27 Tests, 53 ODIs and 10 T20Is. Most notably, he was part of the India team which lifted the ICC World Cup in 2011, and also celebrated winning the ICC 2007 T20 World Cup under Dhoni’s captaincy.