In what was a shocking revelation for some India fans, a report published in The Telegraph said that Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel are considering dropping batting maestro Virat Kohli from the T20 World Cup 2024 squad. Not to forget, Kohli did not play T20Is for 14 months. He featured for India in the three T20Is against Afghanistan in January for the first time since 2022 T20 World Cup where India finished as semifinalists. It has been reported that selectors feel slow wickets in West Indies will not suit his batting.

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Kohli has not been able to cope up with he demans of T20 batting, the report had said, adding that he was told to bat aggressively during the India Vs Afghanistan series and all that he could manage were scores of 29 and 0.

It is felt that youngsters like Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav are more suited for conditions in West Indies, where some games of the championship will be played.

Reacting to the report, former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Irfan, who had various onfield spats with Kohli in the past, backed the star batter, saying that those who are asking for Kohli’s exclusion belong in gully cricket.

“I don’t have any second thoughts about it, you can’t make your team without Virat Kohli because he is a very big batsman. We all saw what he did in the ODI World Cup last year, Virat Kohli won 3-4 matches in the World Cup for India on his own. If Kohli didn’t step up on that occasion, India would have lost 3-4 matches including group-stage matches against Australia and New Zealand where India lost early wickets. He finished the match on his own,” Irfan said on News24.

“He won the matches in recent times, it’s not fair to raise questions on his place. Those questioning Virat Kohli’s place in the T20 World Cup belong in gully cricket,” he added.