Will Kohli continue playing the T20 format for India post-T20 World Cup?
Will Kohli continue playing the T20 format for India post-T20 World Cup? The T20 Indian batsman, Virat Kohli, is using his memory, but it is now clear that his strategies are no longer working for him in this short format, high-impact game. It denies the Indian team from using its resources to their fullest potential.
The 20s or 35s are on the way, but no longer reaching a strike rate of 150 (it was 102 plus against Pakistan on Sunday).
In the light of the moment, can Kohli, therefore, be left off the T20 World Cup squad? The answer is no. Even if he does not score runs at a blistering rate, this can not happen.
But the question lies that after the T20 World Cup in Australia, would Kohli be able to play for India in this format? However, the concerned people who are in charge of making decisions are aware of the fact, but they won’t divulge it.
Since the “Desert Debacle” in 2021, when India prematurely made an exit from the T20 World Cup, this question has been circulating across Indian cricket.
That was Kohli’s final T20 tournament as a captain. He lead India, and at the time, he decided to give up the captaincy of one format. He did this to receive some relief from his workload. He took this decision to be free from the pressure of managing the team in all formats.
Even if Kohli is not seen regretting his decision one year later, it didn’t go as planned. Gradually, he lost his position as ODI captain. The wise man saw the signs and renounced his “virtual arm-band” in a format where his statistics and numbers were exceptional.
Kohli recently shared his recent struggles related to mental health issues in an interview with “Star Sports,”.
By the time he turned 33 years old, he achieved a number of 464 international matches. In addition to that, he has to his name 15 seasons in the intense Indian Premier League. He was the franchise’s (IPL) batting mainstay and the most recognizable player.
He was noticed acknowledging that there was a time when he did not enjoy the game. The reason was he possessed only that much bandwidth.
In five T20Is in 2022, he scored inconsistently. The scores were 17, 52, 1, 11, and 35.
If we do not take into consideration the low scores, his 17 came off of 13 balls, his 52 came off of 41 balls. He scored 35 off 34 deliveries.
The Indian team does not require half-centuries in every game. But the team should turn to put up scores like 35 runs in 20–22 balls or even 20 off 10 balls. This is high on impact quotient even if not as many runs as a half-century.
These are a few cold and hard statistical facts where he is hardly able to maintain a strike rate of even 100 from over 6 to 14. During this time, slow bowlers are in play.
The proverbial elephant in the room seems to be the debate over Kohli’s status as the No. 3 batsman in T20 cricket. But it is understood that the BCCI may address this problem until after the T20 World Cup.
The simplest path for Kohli may be taking a break from the T20 format and concentrating on the test match format of 50 overs. India will be gearing for a Test World Cup to play at home with 38 Tests scheduled for the upcoming FTP cycle.
However, if Kohli keeps his inconsistent performance, Chetan Sharma and his team of national selectors would need to create a roadmap. The head coach Rahul Dravid and NCA chief VVS Laxman will have to begin the phase-out process if they receive the probable extension at the AGM.
Sachin Tendulkar (in ODIs), Sourav Ganguly (across formats), Rahul Dravid (white ball prior to a final hurrah in 2011), Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, and Virender Sehwag faced the same thing.
There is no reason for Kohli to deny it.
The BCCI might have an open conversation with Virat Kohli about his shortest format future before or after the T20 format World Cup 2022.