Veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has thrown his weight behind Virat Kohli in reply to the criticism and the calls for the batsman to be dropped from the Indian team by some former cricketers amid Kohli’s lean patch.
The talisman batter has been having a horrific time with the bat, especially in the past few months. A disappointing IPL 2022 campaign – where he scored 341 runs at a strike rate of 115 – was followed by cheap scores on the England tour so far.
Virat Kohli hasn’t gone past 20 in his last four innings
In the Edgbaston Test earlier this month, the 33-year-old managed scores of 11 and 20, and then 1 and 11 in the two T20Is in the recently concluded series. There were doubts already over Kohli’s place in India’s T20I eleven and now further compounded by his low scores in the last two matches.
Even before the T20I series, legendary Indian captain Kapil Dev had Kohli shouldn’t be in the eleven on his “reputation” and past accolades and in-form youngsters should be given more chances.
“Play in-form players when you have loads of options,” Kapil Dev told ABP News. “You can’t just go by reputation, but you have to look for current form. You can be an established player but that doesn’t mean that you will be given chances even if you fail five games in a row.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by the likes of Virender Sehwag and Venkatesh Prasad after his failures in the T20I series.
India has so many batsman who can get going from the start , some of them are unfortunately sitting out. Need to find a way to play the best available players in current form in T-20 cricket. #IndvEng
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) July 10, 2022
Changed drastically now, where there is rest for being out of form. This is no way for progress. There is so much talent in the country and cannot play on reputation. One of India’s greatest match-winner, Anil Kumble sat out on so many ocassions, need action’s for the larger good
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) July 10, 2022
Rajdeep Sardesai highlighted the importance of Virat Kohli
Sardesai took to Twitter to point out that Kohli’s record in Australia is incredible, the country where the T20 World Cup will be played in about three months’ time. He asserted that a “big match” cricketer such as Kohli should be in the team for a crucial tournament.
Sardesai admitted that other youngsters should be tried, but not at the cost of Kohli’s place in the eleven.
“So former test players want @imVkohli out of T 20 squad ahead of a World Cup in Australia? Just look at his track record in Australia: Yes, his form has been poor in last 18 months but a big tournament needs big match players. Try others but VK’s class is unquestionable,” Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted.
So former test players want @imVkohli out of T 20 squad ahead of a World Cup in Australia? Just look at his track record in Australia: Yes, his form has been poor in last 18 months but a big tournament needs big match players. Try others but VK’s class is unquestionable. #Virat
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) July 11, 2022
