Why Virat Kohli’s tenure as a captain should not be judged solely on number of ICC trophies.

After leading Indian team in 95 one day and 50 t20 internationals, Virat Kohli’s tenure as a white ball captain come to an end. For many he is one of the greatest modern-day batsmen, but same adjectives are not applied when it’s came to his captaincy. Although he has astonishing success record of 70.43% in ODI’s (4^th best for a captain who led their team in more than 75 matches) and 64.58% in T20s (2^nd best for more than 50 matches), lack of ICC trophy laid down his great run. He will now hand his boots to another talisman, Rohit Sharma, who unlike Kohli has 4 IPL trophies under his belt as a captain.

For Kohli, who had a world cup and a champions trophy at an age of 25, white ball captaincy came in later stage of his career. He has been made full time captain in 2017 after MS Dhoni stepped down as one of the greatest in business, winning 3 ICC trophies in just 10 years. To match those heights would have been never easy for anyone, but those expectations seem like surely got Kohli and his captaincy career.

Kohli’s first task as a captain came in 2017. He led India to the final of champions trophy in England, but horror show of batting in final results to a loss against their arch rival Pakistan. After that tournament BCCI made some bold decisions going forward. Head coach Anil Kumble lost his post and Ravi shastri got appointment as a full-time coach. The like-minded duo of Kohli-Shastri works superbly for a team. They made some tactical changes in team combination by bringing leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and ‘chinaman’ bowler Kuldeep Yadav, together famously known as ‘Kulcha’. They combine took 153 wickets at an extraordinary average of 25.51! This experiment with team combination saw Indian team reaching new heights in short time.

In 2017-18 season India toured South Africa, where they won ODI and T20 series for a first time. Captain Kohli was highest run getter in ODI series with 558 runs and also named player of the series. After this success, India went to England on high note. They started well by winning T20 series 2-1 but lost ODI series by 1-2. Kohli’s terrific batting form continues as he scored 191 runs in 3 ODIs, more than any other Indian on tour. Under Kohli’s leadership, India won 15 ODI bilateral series out of 19, which also includes victories in West Indies and Australia. He is also the only Indian captain who won T20 bilateral series in SENA nations – South Africa (2018), England (2018), New Zealand (2020) and Australia (2020).

The biggest headline of Kohli’s captaincy era is the revolution of pace bowling in Indian cricket. Traditionally India has been a spinners factory. Spinners like Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were the face of Indian Bowling in last two decades. But in recent years pacers like Jaspreet Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar steps up. Many pundits called this pace battery as ‘the best in the history of Indian cricket’. Overseas success of this team was shaped by these pacers and Kohli played vital role in this revolution.

Despite not having an ICC trophy, Kohli’s India won almost against all opponents, on all difficult venues across the world. This achievement is no less than having an ICC trophy.  Surely an ICC trophy could mark him as one of the great but he made sure that he will leave behind a team which has a potential to be called as a greatest!