"Kind of team Virat had, they should've won 3-4 trophies": Harbhajan Singh

Former Aussie cricketer Tom Moody termed his reign as a white-ball captain a "disappointment".

Harbhajan and Moody were speaking on the 'Rise of Champions' programme on JioHotstar, aired as India prepares to defend their ICC T20 World Cup title next year in a tournament co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. They will start their campaign against the USA on February 7 and have been placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, Namibia, the Netherlands and the USA.

Speaking on expectations from India, former Australian skipper Aaron Finch, the 2021 T20 WC winner, said, "When you are an Indian team with so much experience and skill, people look at the team sheet and assume they have to win. It is a remarkable team, but that reputation carries its own weight as well."

Harbhajan also reflected dissapointment on how Virat, the white-ball captain, turned out to be, despite his immense success as a Test skipper. During his reign as a white-ball captain, India could not win any major trophies, enduring a massive 180-run loss to arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final, losing a well-fought 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal against New Zealand by 18 runs while chasing a modest 240 and crashing out in the group stages of ICC T20 World Cup 2021 after two heavy losses to Pakistan and New Zealand.

Harbhajan said, The kind of team Virat had, they could have won three or four trophies. Nahi jeete kuch toh karan honge, but I still feel unke paas achhi team thi (If they did not win, there must be a reason, but I still think he had a solid team)."

Sanjay Manjrekar also voiced concerns regarding team selection during the Kohli-Shastri era, saying, "Team selection under Ravi and Virat was always my biggest concern."

However, South African batting icon and Virat's close friend AB de Villiers offered a contrarian point of view, saying that "he feels irritated when players are judged on the basis of having won a World Cup."

"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," he added.

Summing up the era, Tom Moody concluded: "The Virat Kohli era was an era of high expectation, but ultimately, disappointment."

Under Virat, India played 50 T20Is, winning 30, losing 16, tying two and two ending in a no result, with a win percentage of 60 per cent. Virat led India in 95 ODIs, winning 65, losing 27, one ending in a tie and two being no results. (ANI)