Former Pakistan pace bowler Mohammad Irfan has commented on the speculations of India dropping star batter Virat Kohli from the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 squad.
The speculations arose after a report by The Telegraph India, which shed light on Kohli’s possible exclusion from India’s squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which is scheduled to be played in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA).
According to the report, the Indian selectors are considering the possibility of choosing Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Rinku Singh instead of Kohli for the upcoming mega-event.
The selectors believe that these players are better suited for the shorter format and the conditions in which the tournament will be played.
However, Kohli’s former rival, Irfan has disagreed with the idea and showered high praise on the star batter.
“I have no doubts about it. You can’t have a team without Virat Kohli because he is a tremendous batsman,” said Irfan while talking to a local news channel.
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The 41-year-older shed light on Kohli’s performance during the ICC World Cup 2023, where the star batter was instrumental to India’s dominant performance throughout the tournament.
“We witnessed it in the ODI World Cup last year, where he won 3-4 matches almost single-handedly. Had Kohli not stepped up on those occasions, India would have lost group-stage encounters against Australia and New Zealand,”
For the unversed, India crashed out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 after a humiliating ten-wicket loss in the semi-final against champions England.
Kohli and Rohit Sharma stayed out of the T20I format since then, before making a comeback in the format during the Afghanistan series last month.
Hardik Pandya led India in T20I during Sharma’s absence, while Suryakumar Yadav took charge in the T20I series against Australia after the 50-over World Cup 2023.
Notably, the last global tournament team India won was in 2013 when they clinched the Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni.