Despite witnessing a rough patch in his career, the BCCI decided to exclude Virat Kohli from India’s tour of the West Indies. With Kohli not able to score runs, the call did not go well with former Indian players. While there is a section of legendary cricketers who were hoping for Kohli to go on a break, many reckon the former India captain needs to play as many matches as possible, especially when Virat is believed to be an integral part of the Indian team at the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia.
Legendary Indian cricketers, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev have already voiced their opinions against BCCI giving Kohli or any other players break from international cricket. Joining the bandwagon is another ex-India captain Dilip Vengsarkar. The former chairman of the BCCI selection committee, Vengsarkar is surprised to see Kohli getting excluded from India’s tour of West Indies.
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While the likes of Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and captain Rohit Sharma will be back for the T20Is after skipping the ODIs, Kohli will be away from international cricket and reportedly spend time with his family in London. Dilip Vengsarkar reckons that resting Kohli sends a wrong signal as the India batter needs more matches to get his form back.
Elaborating the same, during a chat with Khaleej Times, Dilip Vengasarkar said, “I don’t understand why the Indian selectors have rested him for the West Indies series. If he is in their scheme of things for the T20 World Cup in Australia, he should play as many games as possible to get his form and confidence back. That would help him. Resting him sends a wrong signal because if he is going to Australia, then he will go without really big scores behind him.”
He further added, “That would worry him as well. I always feel that when you are not scoring runs, it’s important to play as many matches as possible and spend time in the middle, and get back among the runs. This game is all about confidence.”
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This is Kohli’s second small break from international cricket after he was rested for the home T20I series against South Africa after another hectic season of the IPL. There are reports surfacing that Kohli might be traveling to Zimbabwe for the ODI series in August to get some form back, but there is nothing conclusive at the moment. However, if he does not, it will leave Kohli with no match practice leading up to the Asia Cup, which starts in the last week of August.