The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 is around the corner. In the first match of the tournament MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore, which has stars like Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis as well. on March 22 in Chennai. With Virat Kohli skipping the ongoing Test series against England citing personal reasons, the veteran Sunil Gavaskar recently wondered if he would play in the upcoming Indian Premier League.
Initially named in the Indian Test squad against England, the veteran pulled out before the opening game in Hyderabad. Earlier this month, healong with his wife Anushka Sharma announced the birth of their second child as well.
“Kya woh khelenge… kuchh reason ke liye khel nahin rahe hain, shaayad ho sakta hai ke IPL ke liye bhi na khele(Will he play… He is not playing because of some reason, perhaps he may not play in IPL as well),” Sunil Gavaskar said rather cheekily when he was asked if Kohli would be hungry for runs in the IPL.
When asked, de Villiers said: “Nothing confirmed yet. Virat Kohli has hinted that he might want me to come over just to spend a bit of time with him and some of the batter perhaps. Nothing confirmed yet. I think the call has got to come from Andy Flower, Faf and the team. But for now, I am just going to be in Mumbai for the first few weeks of the IPL. I am doing a bit of commentary so do watch our live streams. I will be back at the backend for the knockouts,” said AB de Villiers on his YouTube channel.
Sunil Gavaskar also added that Team India must feel proud of its achievement to beat England without some of its top stars as well.
“Three years back, India missed a lot of big names in Australia but they still managed to pull off a fantastic win not just in Gabba. After getting all out in Adelaide for 36 they won in Melbourne and drew in Sydney. They battled hard to save the Sydney Test match. If Rishabh Pant stayed on the crease for half an hour then India could have won that match as well. But the Heart and application the young Indian players showed during that Australia tour was visible even this time around against England,” Gavaskar said on Sports Tak.
“That’s why I always say, you don’t need big names… If any big name thinks that India won’t win without him these two series have shown that whether you are there or not…Cricket is a team sport. It doesn’t depend on one individual. Credit must go to the way captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid have managed the team. They gave chances to the young players, moulded them, and encouraged them to play their natural game. This shows that whether we have big names or not, if we have players with big hearts then we can win,” he concluded.
