‘Not winning an ICC event…’: Ex-Pak captain hits back at Kohli’s critics who labelled him a ‘failed’ captain

Virat Kohli announced that he will step down as the T20I captain after the 2021 T20 World Cup. Post the showpiece event, he was sacked as the ODI captain before he eventually stepped down as the Test skipper. Under Kohli, India played four ICC tournaments where they reached the final twice, made it to the semi-finals once and bowed out of the group stage on one occasion. He led the charge for India in Tests and made them a ruthless side whereas the team remained consistent in bilaterals in white-ball formats but could not emerge on top in ICC knockouts.

During an appearance on the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) podcast, the 34-year-old Kohli recently revealed how many labelled him a failed captain for not winning an ICC title. “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 (four) ICC tournaments, I was considered as a failed captain,” Kohli said.

Now, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has responded to Kohli’s critics. He feels ‘not winning an ICC tournament doesn’t tell us that Kohli wasn’t a strong leader’. On his Youtube channel, Butt said, “People who do not understand the game of cricket very well judge a captain’s performance based on how he has fared in the Champions Trophy or the World Cup. However, if you have a good win percentage and are tactically very strong, but haven’t won a big tournament, it wouldn’t be fair to say that you haven’t been a good captain.”

Butt further added, “There might have been a few mistakes in high-pressure games, or it might just have been a case of luck. Not winning an ICC tournament doesn’t tell us that he [Virat Kohli] wasn’t a strong leader.”

At present, the Kohli-starrer Indian team is involved in the four-match Test series versus Australia. On Day 1 of the third and penultimate Test, in Indore, hosts India are on the back foot at stumps after being dismissed for 109. Australia ended the day’s play at 156 for 4, with an overall lead of 47.

Leading the series 2-0, Rohit Sharma-led India are aiming for another win in the 2022/23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy to cement a spot in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final. If India manage to win the WTC final, in June, they will finally end their ten-year-long ICC-title drought.