Can India Afford to Drop Virat Kohli from T20 World Cup Squad?

Who Plays at No. 3
Who Plays at No. 3

Drop Virat Kohli from T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli’s lack of form has been a major discussion topic, and it is one of the main concerns for this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

Drop Virat Kohli from T20 World Cup

Kohli has already played four T20Is for India in 2022

Virat Kohli is making runs like it’s nothing in the year 2019. He just got a hundred in India’s first day-night Test at the Eden Gardens against Bangladesh. Right now, every expert and fan agrees that the right-handed batter is the best. If someone had said three years from now that Kohli’s place in the T20 setup would be in question and there would be calls to bench him, people would have laughed at the idea. Fast forward to 2022, and it’s a serious question whether Virat should still be in the T20 lineup in his current form.

Kohli has already played four T20Is for India in 2022. He has scored 17, 52, 1, and 11 in those games. The last two scores were in T20Is against England. There was a time when Kohli was the only option for the third spot in T20Is. He was the perfect pivot because he could switch the strike and score fast runs when needed. But now, both of these skills are getting worse, at least for a while if not forever.

Can India Afford to Drop Virat Kohli from T20 World Cup

Kohli hasn’t hit a hundred in an international game since November 2019

Deepak Hooda has scored runs at the top of the order and has had a great strike rate. This makes things even more complicated. This is the main reason why fans were upset when Hooda was taken out of the second T20I and replaced by Kohli. Kohli’s scores in his last 10 T20I innings were 77, 1, 80, 57, 9, 2, 17, 52, 1, and 11. Now, if you only look at the numbers, you might wonder how Kohli could be dropped when he has scored four fifty-plus scores in his last 10 games. It’s important to remember that 6 of these games took place last year, and a lot has changed since then.

Kohli hasn’t hit a hundred in an international game since November 2019, but he was still getting 50s. The unconventional batter just wasn’t able to get to 100. But now the batter looks very out of shape, and from the outside, the right-handed batter seems to be trying to make shots out of nothing, at least in the shortest format.

Younger youngster Deepak Hooda has stepped up in recent games

Kohli doesn’t swing from the start, but he seems to be trying too hard. This year, Kohli’s IPL stats were low. He had 341 runs in 16 games and a 115.99 strike rate. Younger youngster Deepak Hooda has stepped up in recent games. He gives the top order firepower in T20. Kohli’s issues are made harder by Team India’s realization that they must attack from the start to score between 180 and 200. Kohli may strive too much and worsen under all this pressure. Honestly, India needs Kohli as a batsman more in Tests and ODIs than T20Is.

In the last T20 World Cup, India’s batting was an issue. KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli all batted similarly, making it hard to win. In 2022, India has a new lineup with aggressive batters. Kohli has played 98 T20Is, scoring 3297 runs at a 137.94 strike rate and 50.72 average. With the batter’s form this year and the World Cup in Australia in a few months, do the selectors want to give Kohli a long leash in the shortest format, or do they want him to focus on ODIs and Tests and get his mojo back?

Rohit Sharma defended Kohli during the third T20I against England

Kohli’s benching isn’t easy. Fans and pundits would be outraged. Rohit Sharma defended Kohli during the third T20I against England. This demonstrates Kohli’s importance to the team. But with Hooda in good form and middle order players like Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya doing their jobs, the pressure on Kohli will only get worse.

Head coach Rahul Dravid has made some tough decisions since taking over, including omitting Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane for Tests against Sri Lanka and dropping Wriddhiman Saha from the Test team and told him he won’t be considered because they want to try out Srikar Bharat. He supervised a difficult captaincy transition and has dealt with increased captaincy and team rotations owing to injury. The Kohli issue may be his toughest yet. India has a number of matches planned up to give everyone a chance and make the best selection for the team.

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