Here’s Why Kapil Dev Wants Team India To Drop Virat Kohli From 2nd T20I Against England: In the first T20I versus England in Southampton, all three of India’s middle-order trio – Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya – batted at the strike rate of over 150; this was the first time in India’s T20I history that numbers 3, 4 and 5 have each batted 10+ balls and still scored at a strike-rate in excess of 150.
Their acceleration in the middle-overs meant India finished with an above-par score of 198 – and eventually won by 50 runs – despite the collapse and England coming back in the last couple of overs.
However, now Deepak Hooda, who had smashed his maiden ton vs Ireland and scored 33 runs off 17 balls in Southampton, would be in all likelihood dropped for the second T20I, on Saturday in Edgbaston, because Virat Kohli will return to the side.
Can Virat Kohli be dropped from India’s T20I eleven?
Former India captain Kapil Dev, however, feels that the time has come for Virat Kohli to be benched in the shortest format. Dev explained that not only other youngsters are performing well, but also Kohli’s form in T20 cricket has dipped. Kohli had a largely forgettable IPL 2022 season in which he scored 341 runs in 16 matches at a below-par average and SR of 22.73 and 115.99.
Dev also cited the example of Ravichandran Ashwin, a Test great but who was also dropped for all five Tests in England.
“Yes, now the situation is such that you might be forced to bench Kohli from T20 playing eleven. If world No. 2 bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then (once upon a time) world No. 1 batter can also be dropped,” said Kapil Dev on ABP News.
Add to this, his low scoring rate in the middle-overs, especially against spinners. Among all of Kohli, Hooda, SKY, Pant and Shreyas Iyer, Kohli has the lowest middle-overs strike rate this year in T20 cricket, making his approach risky and redundant in this new era of Rohit Sharma where the message has been to be aggressive from the start of your knock and throughout.
Kohli shouldn’t keep performing youngsters on the bench
The 1983 World Cup-winning skipper reckoned Virat Kohli is not batting at the same levels as he used to in his peak and now his reputation shouldn’t carry him in the eleven with the youngsters putting up good performances regularly.
“Virat is not batting at a level which we have seen him do over the years. He has made a name because of his performances but if he isn’t performing, then you can’t keep the performing youngsters out of the team. I want competition for places in team in a positive sense that these youngsters should try and outperform Virat,” Dev added.
