Star Indian batter Virat Kohli has been a massive contributor to Indian cricket over the last decade and a half in International Cricket. The 34-year-old has been spearheading the batting attack in all three formats of the game. He played exceptionally well for the Indian team over the years playing some memorable knocks for the Indian team in big games.
The Indian batting maestro has shown excellent composure and temperament for the Indian team, especially against high-quality opponents. He scored 75 centuries and 130 fifties in International Cricket, producing some remarkable performances for the Men in Blue.
Despite his contribution to Indian cricket, Virat Kohli has come under a lot of criticism, especially during his captaincy tenure, where he failed to win a single ICC trophy. Here are five players whose careers were destroyed by Virat Kohli during his captaincy stint.
1. Vijay Shankar
Indian all-rounder Vijay Shankar was brought into the International scene during Virat Kohli’s captaincy stint with the Indian team, but he was not backed by the Indian team management as he found himself out of the team. He had a toe injury during the 2019 World Cup and in his international career so far playing in 12 ODIs and nine T20Is for a combined total of 324 runs and nine wickets.
They were a lot of talks around the Tamil Nadu All-rounders selection in the Indian team ahead of Ambati Rayudu for the 2019 World Cup, with former Chief selector MSK Prasad terming him as a 3-dimensional player, but Shankar hardly fulfilled his potential for the Men in blue and he was soon out of the Indian white-ball team.
2. Ravichandran Ashwin
Virat Kohli was the reason behind Ravichandran Ashwin’s exit from white ball cricket, following a rough champions trophy in 2017, Ashwin found himself limited over the format of the game due to poor performances in white ball cricket, after which he made a comeback into the Indian side only in 2021 T20 World Cup, despite performing well in the Indian Premier League and domestic cricket.
Even though the Indian veteran was part of the Indian setup in red-ball cricket, he found himself out of the playing 11, especially in the overseas series. The Men in Blue opted to play go with Ravindra Jadeja as he perform well with the bat than Ashwin in the away conditions.
3. Deepak Chahar
Indian Pacer Deepak Chahar’s career has been halted by injuries in domestic and International Cricket, as he performed brilliantly well for the Rising Pune Supergiants and Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. The 30-year-old has shown the ability to swing and seam with the new ball, as the top-quality batters found it difficult to play him in the power play.
The Right arm pacer was not backed by the Indian team management, as the team failed to give enough opportunities in International Cricket. The frequent injuries too, affected his career to an extent of Cricket, as he could not make it into the team for the marquee events.
4. Manish Pandey
Manish Pandey is one of the most experienced batters in the Indian domestic circuit, as he found himself out of the Indian team during Virat Kohli’s captaincy period. The Karnataka batter was groomed to play the role of the number 4 in the Indian team during MS Dhoni’s captaincy stint, but he didn’t have enough backing from the former Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
The 33-year-old cricketer’s career took a turn, when he was out of the national team, as he struggled to get going in the Indian Premier League. Manish Pandey has played 29 ODI games and 39 T20 games for India during his time with the Indian team. With the age not on his side, It would be tough for the Indian batter to make a comeback in the Indian colours in the future.
5. T Natarajan
Natarajan made it into the Indian team due to his brilliant performance in the IPL 2020 in Dubai, where he bowled some remarkable spells for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the cash-rich league. The Tamil Nadu pacer made his debut for India in all three formats of the game during the Australia tour.
The left-arm pacer made his Test debut in 2021 and scalped three wickets in India’s historic win against Australia in Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023. The 32-year-old had a string of injuries in his career and he was not backed by the Indian team management to play in the highest level, despite his performance in IPL and domestic leagues.