"As big as winning the World Cup" - When an Indian legend defended Virat Kohli over him not winning an ICC event as captain

If we go by pure stats, Virat Kohli is among the most successful Indian captains in international cricket. The 36-year-old led India in 213 matches across the three formats of the game. Under his leadership, the team won 135 matches and lost 60. Further, three games ended in a tie, 11 were drawn, while four produced no result.

Among Indian captains, only MS Dhoni has won more matches for India in international cricket. He led the country in 332 matches across the three formats of the game, winning 178 of them. While Kohli (63.38) has a better win percentage than Dhoni (53.61), the former is often criticized for never having led Team India to victory in any ICC event. Under Dhoni, India won three ICC white-ball trophies.

Speaking to Sports Today in November 2021, though, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar hailed Kohli's leadership. Admitting that the Delhi cricketer was unsuccessful in leading the team to glory in ICC events, he opined that, under Kohli, India won some big bilateral contests, which deserve appreciation.

"When you look at bilateral series, whether it's at home or overseas, India have won most of them. But India haven't done that well in multi-country events. You've got to balance that out. India have won more matches under Virat Kohli than under any other captain that I can think of," Gavaskar commented.

"I would prefer an ICC trophy because a multi-country event championship is something that you would cherish. But it also depends on which bilateral series that you are talking about. If you win a bilateral series against Australia, then that's also as big as maybe winning the World Cup. Similarly, you will also cherish a T20I series win over England and West Indies," the 75-year-old went on to add.

In terms of numbers, Kohli is India's most successful captain in Test cricket. He led India in 68 Test matches, winning 40 of them. Dhoni (27) is a distant second on the list followed by Sourav Ganguly (21).

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Virat Kohli as captain in ICC events: So near, yet so far

Under Kohli, India came close to winning ICC events a number of times. The Men in Blue finished runners-up in the 2017 Champions Trophy, going down to Pakistan in the final after dominating the tournament.

India also reached the knockouts of the 2019 World Cup in England, putting up some fantastic performances. However, they went down to New Zealand in the semifinal in Manchester. Under Kohli, India made it to the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final in 2021, but came second best against the Kiwis.