Virat Kohli has been out of international cricket for quite sometime. He was not part of India’s 4-1 home Tests series win over England, due to personal reasons (to welcome his second child), but he will now be seen in IPL 2024, for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
If reports are to be believed in The Telegraph, Kohli will have to perform very well and strike at an impressive rate to be considered for India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad. At present, it is being widely reported that the former Indian captain isn’t a certainity in India’s squad and likely to make way for power-hitters.
During the England Test series, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah confirmed that Rohit Sharma will lead India in the T20 WC. Rohit and Kohli returned to the T20I setup after 14 months, since the last T20 WC in Australia, during the Afghanistan series early this year. However, he didn’t confirm Kohli’s participation. In this regard, Shah said, “We will discuss Virat’s role in due course.”
It is believed that the Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee are more keen to go ahead with power-hitters such as Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Jitesh Sharma, etc. instead of including Kohli (who has a strike rate of 138.15 in T20Is). Moreover, the committee feels the slow pitches in West Indies — co-hosts along with USA for the T20 WC — won’t suit Kohli’s style of play. Thus, a discussion with Kohli is on the cards and his T20I future might well be sealed sooner than later. If he gets dropped, it will be a huge development.
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Meanwhile, in a recent interaction with News18, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan opined that no Indian team can be complete without Kohli. “No Indian team can be formed without Virat Kohli. How can anyone say that Virat Kohli should not be in India’s team for T20 World Cup. You can see whatever the pressure comes, he performed for India, he always delivered for India,” said Pathan.
India’s T20 WC squad will be announced early May, deadline for all the participating teams, during the IPL 2024 season. At present, all eyes will be on how Kohli performs in the upcoming IPL season.