I hope India don’t pick Virat Kohli for T20 World Cup, there should be heat on every player: Glenn Maxwell

Despite being extremely successful with the bat in the ongoing Indian Premier League, strike rate has been an issue for Virat Kohli. He has made 316 runs in five matches at a strike rate of 146.29, which is not good enough for the critics. It has been in talks for months that at this rate, the former India skipper shouldn’t make it to the T20 World Cup squad, especially with the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh and others available for selection, who can bat with a better strike rate. 

Speaking on the matter, Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate Glenn Maxwell in a lighter tone stated that India shouldn’t pick the 35-year-old for the mega tournament. He added that the Delhi-born cricketer is the best clutch player he has played against and believes that if Kohli doesn’t feature in the T20 World Cup, Australia will have an advantage. He recalled Kohli’s famous 82* knock against Australia in Mohali and added that was one of the best knocks that he had seen.

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“Virat Kohli is the most clutch player I have ever played against. The innings he played against us in Mohali during the 2016 T20 World Cup is still the best innings I have ever seen been played against me. His awareness of what he needs to do to win the game is just phenomenal. I hope India don't pick him (for T20 World Cup) because it will be great to not come up against him,” Maxwell said while talking to ESPN.

Meanwhile, the all-rounder understands that there’s pressure on Kohli at the moment and he believes that it’s justified because there are a lot of players who are talented enough to feature in the national team. Maxwell called them phenomenal players and added that there should be heat on every player.

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“It's not surprising because there are 1.5 billion (people in India) and I reckon half of them are unbelievable cricketers in this country (laughs). It's a hard team to get into. You look at India's top T20 players who are all playing in this tournament (IPL 2024). They are phenomenal players and there should be heat on every player,” Maxwell added.