Chris Gayle, former West Indies cricketer, expressed his support for his ex-teammate Virat Kohli during an interview with Sportstak. Gayle believes Kohli will be crucial for the Indian team in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in June. He emphasized that this year’s tournament, featuring 20 teams, will be more challenging than before.
Chris Gayle On Virat Kohli Playing The T20 World Cup 2024
The Men in Blue faced early exits in the group stages and semi-finals in the last two T20 World Cup editions in 2021 and 2022. Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India suffered a disappointing elimination in the 2021 tournament held in UAE, which was won by Australia. In the following year, Rohit Sharma led the team to the semi-finals, where they were defeated by England with a significant margin of 10 wickets.
Since then, the Indian cricket team has missed out on two more chances to win an ICC trophy. Last year, they had a great opportunity to win both the WTC final in June and the 50-over World Cup in October-November. However, they were stopped by a determined Australian team on both occasions.
During a recent interview with Sportstak, Chris Gayle highlighted that Virat Kohli is a versatile player who can excel in any team worldwide. Gayle expressed his support for Kohli to participate in the entire 2024 T20 World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by Gayle’s former national team and the USA for the first time. Gayle said:
“Virat Kohli should play the 2024 T20 World Cup. He fits in any team in the world”.
Kohli holds the record for the highest number of runs scored in ICC T20 World Cup history. He has a good opportunity to extend his lead in the run-scoring charts, where Rohit Sharma also features in the Top 5.
Currently, Kohli has amassed 1141 runs from just 25 innings, boasting an impressive average of 81.5, with his highest score being 89*.
Although absent from the Indian team’s ongoing 5-match Test series against England, Kohli is expected to make his comeback in IPL 2024. He has been away from cricket since January 17th, opting out of the England series due to the birth of his second child with wife Anushka Sharma.
