We are coming towards the end of the year 2021, which has been great for Indian cricket. Though we failed to win two ICC tournaments this year, the performance of the players was exceptional in the other bilateral series. However, this year turned out to be quite horrible for Test captain Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli
Kohli left the Australian tour midway in January this year, on paternal leave. Later, he took part in the Test series held against England. India won the series by 3-1. Kohli and his men showed the same form in the ODI and T20I series as well and won them with 2-1 and 3-2 respectively.
Later, Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. During the first half held in summer, RCB did well and remained in the top four positions. After the IPL was suspended, Team India participated in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand in June. We were defeated in the match badly and lost the championship.
Later, Kohli and men stayed back in England to play the Test series against the Brits. Here, Team India performed well and won two out of the four tests and lost one. The fifth Test has been postponed to 2022.
Then, the IPL second-leg started in the UAE. Ahead of this tournament, Kohli stated that he is relieving as a captain of both RCB and the Indian T20I sides. Unfortunately, he failed to get RCB a title and the Indian team the T20 World Cup under his captaincy. Shockingly, Team India was knocked out of the world cup on the group stage itself.
After the World Cup, India played a home series against New Zealand. Kohli didn’t take part in the T20I series. India won the series anyway. He came back in the Test series and led the team to a victory. Soon after the completion of this series, Kohli was sacked as ODI captain.
On the personal front, Kohli failed to score a single century across any format this year. He was the top batter across all the three formats at the start of this year but not anymore. His ranking has been dropped as well. Kohli is in a low phase as a captain and a player. Hopefully, he regains the lost glory in 2022.