'Shubman Gill's India is better than MS Dhoni's 2015 side': Virat Kohli makes bold statement and reveals mental struggles after 2019 World Cup exit
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'Shubman Gill's India is better than MS Dhoni's 2015 side': Virat Kohli makes bold statement and reveals mental struggles after 2019 World Cup exit originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Virat Kohli claims Shubman Gill's current India white-ball squad carries more depth and firepower than the 2015 World Cup side.
- Kohli opens up about the emotional aftermath of India's heartbreaking 2019 semi-final exit against New Zealand.
- He links his own painful experience from that campaign to how he now mentors and supports Gill's leadership.
'Better than 2015': Virat Kohli rates shubman gill's indian side above MS Dhoni's, details 2019 World Cup pain
Virat Kohli did not hold back when comparing eras of Indian cricket, and this time he's gone as far as suggesting the current white-ball group under Shubman Gill outclasses the side that reached the semi-finals back in 2015.
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Kohli reckons there's simply no comparison between what India have now and what they carried into Australia and New Zealand a decade ago. Back then, the squad leaned heavily on a handful of proven names, with the rest still finding their feet at the international level.
Today, in his view, that dependency has all but disappeared as India can lose four wickets and still have match-winners waiting in the ranks.
"The amount of talent we have and the composure the guys have now are probably way greater than they were in 2015, I can say," he said in a chat with Jiostar.
"Because we were still young, there was not a lot of experience in the team. MS was there, of course; I had played a lot of games, Rohit had played a few games, Shikhar was there, but it wasn't like you could bank on those players to make an impact."
What's changed since then, according to Kohli, is the sheer number of players capable of turning a game single-handedly, something the 2015 squad simply didn't have the luxury of.
"Today, you could be four down, and someone could win you the game single-handedly. Earlier, there was no such feeling," he added.
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Kohli revisits the heartbreak of two different World Cup exits
Kohli didn't stop at comparing squads, though, as he also drew a line between how the 2015 and 2019 exits actually felt from the inside, and they weren't the same kind of pain at all.
"2019, I felt was more of a heartbreak," he revealed. "2015, playing Australia in the semis, we were always motivated to win but you were aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
"Australia in Australia is always difficult and in a semi-final, we always knew if the game goes beyond a certain point in a way of a massive score, or if we don't get to put a score on the board first, it's gonna be tough and that's what happened. They were phenomenal."
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Whereas, in 2019, India went down by 18 runs in the first semi-final to New Zealand at Old Trafford in Manchester. Just when it felt like Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni had turned the tide, Martin Guptill's direct hit ran out the latter and poured cold water on India's hopes.
Kohli still believes that the result had arrived almost out of nowhere and left the squad shaken in a way 2015 hadn't.
"2019 was a jolt for all of us. If we had played that day, things would have been very different," he reflected on that rain-affected semi-final tie, which pushed the fixture onto the reserve day.
"But the next morning, they had a great new ball attack, and they got the best of the conditions; they put us under pressure. They banked on the hesitation that we had; that was very tough to process and swallow."
The defeat clearly left scars that went well beyond the scoreline. Kohli was candid about just how hard it hit him personally in the weeks that followed.
"I was distraught; for a couple of months I was totally gone, mentally."
That period of struggle appears to have shaped how Kohli approaches his role today, now operating less as the man carrying the batting order and more as a senior voice guiding Gill through the pressures of leadership.
Having lived through a heartbreak that lingered for months, Kohli seems acutely aware of what young players actually need: not just technical advice, but someone who's been through the wreckage and come out the other side.
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An honest reckoning that adds more to his praise for Gill
It's good to find Kohli admitting the 2019 exit broke him for months rather than dressing it up as just another loss.
It's the kind of honesty athletes rarely offer this openly, and it makes his praise for the current squad land with more credibility. Saying today's team has more depth isn't just flattery aimed at Gill's captaincy; it's coming from someone who's felt firsthand what happens when a team doesn't have enough match-winners to fall back on.
That contrast between 2015's manageable disappointment and 2019's gutting collapse also explains why Kohli seems so invested in making sure the current group doesn't carry the same psychological baggage into 2027.
If his own scars are shaping how he mentors Gill's core now, India's transition might benefit more from lived experience than any tactical manual ever could.
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