Cricket News

If I had to pick a T20 side, Virat probably won’t be there’ – Ajay Jadeja makes big statement on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has been in a dull patch of form and it was no different in the second T20I against England in Edgbaston as his short stay at the crease was ended by debutant Richard Gleeson. The batting maverick walked back to the dugout with just one run to his name from three deliveries.

Expressing disappointment on Kohli’s lackluster performance in the last game, former India batter, Ajay Jadeja has said that Virat will probably find no place in his T20 team. The 33-year-old, who was rested for the series opener, misjudged a delivery from Gleeson in the seventh over where Dawid Malan went on to complete a superb catch running backward.

“Virat Kohli is a special player. If it wasn’t Virat Kohli, he wouldn’t have probably played Test cricket as well,” Jadeja said while speaking on Sony Sports.

“You look at the numbers and say ‘oh, over the last 8, 10 matches, he hasn’t scored a hundred’. But you don’t leave him out just because he hasn’t scored a hundred. You don’t leave him out because of what he is done in the past”, he added.

“It depends on whom you want to play. I feel you have a choice, it’s a tough one to make. If I had to pick a T20 side, Virat probably won’t be there,” the former India skipper further added.

This was another forgettable outing for Kohli whose woeful run of form continued at Edgbaston. He continued to face his worst-ever batting slump as this was his 76th innings where he failed to register a century across formats.

This is indeed a worrying sign for India heading into the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and the 20-20 World Cup in Australia in the coming months. It now remains to be seen whether the batting superstar will rise from the ashes like a phoenix and score the big runs like he used to. Nevertheless, he has a chance to  make his bat do the talking in the third game at Trent Bridge on Sunday, July 10 and Virat would be looking to make the most out of it.