Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Irfan has slammed the critics questioning Virat Kohli's place in the Indian team for the upcoming T20 World Cup. This comes after a report in the Telegraph claimed that the Indian selectors are considering snubbing Kohli from the squad for the marquee event in the West Indies and the USA. The former India captain had been out of the T20 setup for more than 14 months, before returning earlier this year for the series against Afghanistan.
However, Irfan rubbished the idea of Kohli's absence from the squad, and criticised the player's critics.
"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. I don't have any second thoughts about it, you can't make your team without Virat Kohli because he is a very big batter," Irfan told News24.
Irfan summed up Kohli's importance by pointing out how the star batter single-handedly won games for the team during the ODI World Cup last year.
"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," he added.
Kohli finished the World Cup as the leading run-scorer of the tournament, amassing 765 runs at an average of 95.62.
He also topped the charts during the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022.
Kohli missed the entire England Test series due to the birth of his son.
He is expected to return to action during the upcoming season of IPL. However, he hasn't yet joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore camp.
RCB will start their IPL 2024 campaign on March 22 with an away match against title holders Chennai Super Kings.