Virat Kohli on ICC World Cup semi-final loss - ‘Learnt most in my life from failures and setbacks’

India’s next tour to West Indies is a chance for the team to start from the scratch and look at stars for the future. The process of starting again from a shattering loss is difficult, but for captain Virat Kohli setbacks have always been a stepping stone for improvement.

India’s ICC World Cup campaign came to a grinding halt with a disappointing loss to New Zealand in the semi-final. The match was played over two days due to rain interruption and the team’s famed top order, which included captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma, failed to fire in the crunch game. The fragile middle-order couldn’t stand up to the pressure and a team, which looked favourites for the title after finishing the group stage on top of the table, were left wondering what could have been.

India's Virat Kohli reacts after losing his wicket against New Zealand in ICC World Cup semi-final.(Action Images via Reuters)

India’s next tour to West Indies is a chance for the team to start from the scratch and look at stars for the future. The process of starting again from a shattering loss is difficult, but for captain Virat Kohli setbacks have always been a stepping stone for improvement.

“I have learnt most in my life from failures and setbacks. The worst setbacks have not only motivated me but also improved me as a person, made me understand the importance of those times more than the success. It makes you sit down and think about what you need to do now, build a roadmap for yourself. Secondly, these moments show you the people who are going to stand by you in tough times, and the people who will jump ship, ” Kohli said in an interview to Times of India.

Kohli scored five consecutive half-centuries in the tournament while his deputy Rohit Sharma had a dream run, finishing the tournament as the highest run-getter and breaking the record for most centuries in a single edition of the World Cup with 5 tons under his belt. Jasprit Bumrah finished the tournament as the joint fifth-highest wicket taker with 18 scalps. Thanks to the individual brilliance of these players and the collective performance of the team, India’s performance in the tournament was quite dominating and that is what according to Kohli makes accepting the loss in the semi-final so difficult.

“When your belief is right up there and everyone’s playing so well, and suddenly, you know, you’ve been outplayed. It’s very difficult to digest because you know you didn’t make many mistakes to be knocked out. When you make mistakes, you can point them out and take ownership of that but when you have been outplayed then the acceptance becomes difficult. You wake up and think you didn’t do much wrong but we are still out,” Kohli said in the interview.

India’s tour of the West Indies will see them play 3 T20Is and ODIs and 2 Test matches.