Virat Kohli’s childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma has expressed his disagreement with former India captain Kapil Dev’s remarks about resting Kohli in the ongoing T20I series against England. However, Virat Kohli’s poor form continued in the fifth and final Test against England, where he scored only 11 and 20 in both innings.
Moreover, he also had a poor season with the IPL 2022 where he managed only 341 runs in 16 games, which came at an average of 22.73 and a strike rate of 115.98 as well. During the tournament, he only Royal Challengers Bangalore scored two half-centuries. And, according to rumours, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have the veteran sit out of the ICC World T20I 2022 as well, which will be held in Australia later this year.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, cricket veteran Kapil Dev said to the media that Virat Kohli must improve and that if ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is withdrawn from the Test squad, Virat may be dropped from the T20I squad also.
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“Yes, now the situation is such that you might be forced to bench Kohli from T20 playing eleven. If world No. 2 bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then (once upon a time) world No. 1 batter can also be dropped,” Kapil Dev stated. “Virat is not batting at a level which we have seen him do over the years. He has made a name because of his performances but if he isn’t performing, then you can’t keep the performing youngsters out of the team. I want competition for places in team in a positive sense that these youngsters should try and outperform Virat.”
However, this didn’t go down well with Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma as he believed that shouldn’t happen. However, Virat Kohli didn’t do well in the second Twenty20 International against England in Birmingham as well as he could manage only 1 run. The third T20I will take place on July 10.
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“I do not support the statements made by Kapil Dev on Virat Kohli. Nothing big happened with Virat that such kind of statement has been issued. Why is there so much hurry with Virat, he has done so well for the country. Making 70 international centuries is not a small thing. I do not think the board will make a decision to have him sit on the bench,” Rajkumar said to ANI.
