Virat Kohli's Indian Cricket Team Can Win All ICC Tournaments, Believes Brian Lara

In the last couple of years, the Indian cricket team under Virat Kohli have been dominant in bilateral series but have oddly stumbled in the knock-out stages of major ICC tournaments. In 2015, India crashed out in the semi-final of the World Cup in Sydney against Australia but that was under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. With Kohli taking over the reigns, India lost in the semi-final of the 2016 World T20, final of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 to Pakistan and in the semi-final of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand. Thus, the last major tournament India won was the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 under Dhoni which made him the only captain to win all three major ICC tournaments. However, former West Indies legend Brian Lara has said Virat Kohli and the Indian cricket team have the capability to break their rut in ICC tournaments and start winning in 2020.

"I think they are definitely capable of winning all tournaments that they play. I think what Virat Kohli and company and the Indian team has to appreciate the fact that everybody sort of target India. Everybody knows that some point of time one team is going to play that important match against India. If it's a quarter-final, semi-final and final," Lara told to 'India Today'.

This decade was the epoch-defining period for Indian cricket. It witnessed the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar, the greatest batsman the world has ever seen. The void was taken by Virat Kohli, who became the supreme run-making machine across all formats and established a level of consistency which was envious. This decade saw the cementing of MS Dhoni's legacy as the greatest captain India has ever produced and it also saw Kohli take forward the dominance in his batting also in his captaincy. As the decade neared an end, the side saw the development of a pace bowling unit that rivalled all the great pace bowling arsenals of great sides.

This decade saw India becoming the total package by dominating at home and also registering some wins overseas. But, when it comes to current talent, the Indian cricket team have batsmen and bowlers who have already made a mark in world cricket and have laid down the path for domination entering the new decade. When one looks at dominance across all formats, India have dominated in this decade. Out of 462 combined matches played, India have won 281 games at a win-loss ratio of 1.95 which is the best for all teams in this decade. In Tests, they are joint-second with Australia on 56 wins but they have played the least as compared to England and Australia thus they end up with a superior winning percentage.

Also Read | Decade In Review - The Rise And Establishment Of India As The Cricketing Superpower

In ODIs, they are comfortably ahead of the pack with 157 wins in 249 games. They are the only team to have won over 150 ODIs in this decade. In Twenty20 Internationals, they are second only behind Pakistan for most wins with 68 from 106 games while Pakistan has 69 wins from 122 games. The common trend is that India have played lesser than the other teams but they have won.

RELATED