"A Wrong Signal": Ex-India Captain On Why Resting Virat Kohli Is A Bad Idea
Virat Kohli is not in India's squads for the ODI and T20I series against West Indies.
Virat Kohli's current form is a hot topic of discussion. Not only has the former Indian cricket team captain failed to score a ton since 2019, his current form also fails to inspire confidence. He had a forgettable recent Tour of England too, where he could not score big in any of the three formats. Kohli is not part of the ODI and T20I squad for the Tour of West Indies. There has been no official communication about whether he has been dropped or rested. However, former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar believes that Kohli can only get back to form if he plays.
"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," the former India captain said to Khaleej Times.
"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. 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."
The West Indies Tour starts with an ODI on Friday.
India's squad for 3 ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohd Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.
India's squad for 5 T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul*, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
*The inclusion of KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav is subject to fitness.
West Indies Cricket Team
India Cricket Team
Virat Kohli