We’re one of top two teams in world cricket across formats, insists Virat Kohli

His team has blown away oppositions at home — South Africa and Bangladesh being the most recent victims. His team has posed serious threats overseas, even winning a historic Test series in Australia in January earlier this year. India has been the No.1 Test side for a few years now but their skipper Kohli also believes that they're one of the best teams overall.

"If you look at teams across formats now, I would say we're in the top-two teams in the world. And we're very proud of that because we started off with a young bunch and transition is never easy but the guys have slowly understood the importance of belief and understanding their role in taking Indian cricket forward," Kohli told India Today.

“If you see we enjoy each other's success and company and everyone is just wanting to help one way or the other for the betterment of Indian cricket team and in return the betterment of Indian cricket as a whole," he said.

Although the team has delivered some amazing consistency across formats for several years, India has not won an ICC global tournament since 2013. Even the newly-appointed BCCI president Sourav Ganguly pinpointed this back in October but Kohli continues to trust in the process, he believes, will land him his first ICC trophy as captain.

"You could say winning an ICC tournament is like an obsession or like a wish that people have, which is a beautiful thing to wish for because it's seen at a global level and every cricketer would want to win," he said. 

"In hindsight, you can look at a lot of things. We obviously have the desire to win big tournaments and big series and we want to give our best effort possible. But, if you focus on things which are only based on success and numbers and results, you don't enjoy the process. We play well as a team because we enjoy the process,” Kohli continued.

Nobody will dispute that along with the top order, India’s most vital ingredient to success in recent years is the depth in their bowling attack, particularly the well-rounded fast bowling contingent. Even without the world-class Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav’s collective effort saw the team become the first-ever in history to notch up four successive innings victories.

"No one is wanting to outdo someone else. They're like a bunch of friends wanting to help each other. [There's] healthy competition but the trust they've on each other, I've never seen them have an argument… a serious one. No jealousy. Zero. That's their biggest strength," Kohli added.