Former India captain and ex-selection committee chairman Kris Srikkanth has lashed out at rumours over Virat Kohli’s place in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad, saying that the star batter is a must for the team if they are to go on and win the trophy. The T20 World Cup will be played in the USA and the West Indies from June 1, weeks after the completion of IPL 2024.
Virat Kohli returned to the T20 set-up in the 3-match series against Afghanistan in January. it was the first time Kohli played the shortest format of the game at the highest level after the T20 World Cup semi-final in 2022. Kohli and Rohit Sharma were brought back into the T20I set-up by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, signalling their intentions to have them back in the T20 World Cup set-up.
Kohli made his intentions clear in the T20I series, hitting a 16-ball 29 in the 2nd T20I and then throwing his wicket away in the 3rd T20I by trying to be aggressive. Kohli missed the 5-Test series against England in February-March to be with his wife Anushka Sharma during the birth of their second child and the former captain is expected to return to competitive action in IPL 2024.
Ahead of his competitive return, a media report claimed that the senior selection committee was mulling not considering Virat Kohli for the T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies.
“No chance. It’s not possible to be without Virat Kohli at the T20 World Cup. He is the one who took us to the semi-finals in T20 World Cup 2022. He was the Man of the Tournament. Who is saying all this? These rumour-mongers, don’t they have any other job? What is the basis for all this chatter? If India have to win the T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli is a must in the squad,” Srikkanth said in his YouTube show.
‘INDIA SHOULD WIN THE CUP FOR VIRAT’
While there were concerns about Virat Kohli’s strike rate in the past in T20I cricket, the former India captain has always managed to do what the team needs. At the T20 World Cup in 2022, Virat Kohli top-scored with 296 runs in just 6 matches and played one of the finest knocks in T20I history against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
While stressing India need an anchor in the batting order in the West Indies, Kris Srikkanth said that the Indian team should win the World Cup as a tribute to Virat Kohli, recalling Sachin Tendulkar’s World Cup 2011 triumph.
“You need a guy who can just stay there. India need that sheet anchor, be it T20 World Cup or ODI World Cup,” he added.
“Without Virat Kohli, the Indian team cannot go. We need Virat Kohli, 100 percent. I still believe Virat Kohli should be honoured like how Sachin Tendulkar was in 2011. The Indian team should win the World Cup for Virat. It will be a great thing for Virat Kohli,” he added.
Virat Kohli is expected to join the Royal Challengers Bangalore camp over the weekend in Bengaluru. RCB will open their campaign in Chennai against defending champions Super Kings on March 22.
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