Virat Kohli's captaincy had high expectations but ended in disappointment: IPL-winning coach

Former international cricketers Tom Moody, Harbhajan Singh, and AB de Villiers shared their views on Virat Kohli's stint as the Indian captain. The Delhi cricketer took charge as India's Test captain in December

2014 before becoming the all-format skipper in January 2017. He eventually stepped down as T20I skipper after the 2021 T20 World Cup before being removed from ODI captaincy. On January 15, 2022, Kohli relinquished Test captaincy, returning to his previous role as a specialist batter.

Moody, who was the head coach when Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to win the IPL in 2016, said that Kohli's captaincy tenure started with a lot of expectations, but the results were underwhelming.

“The Virat Kohli era was an era of high expectation, but ultimately, disappointment,” Moody said on JioHotstar’s Rise of Champions.

Kohli's former teammate Harbhajan Singh also believes that Kohli should have helped the Indian team win more trophies because he had some fine players at his disposal.

“The kind of team Virat had, they could have won three or four trophies. Nahi jeete kuch to karan honge, but I still feel like unke paas acchi team thi (if they did not win, there must have been reasons, but I still think they had a strong team),” said Harbhajan Singh.

AB de Villiers comes to Virat Kohli's aid

AB de Villiers, who shares great camaraderie with Kohli since their days together at RCB, came out to defend Kohli, saying that judging captains based on the major trophies they have won for the team is unfair.

“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,” said AB de Villiers.

While Kohli couldn't win an ICC title during his captaincy tenure, he helped India become a dominant force in Test cricket, not just in home conditions but also abroad. The team also won several bilateral series in white-ball cricket, both home and away.