It's not possible to be without Virat Kohli at the T20 World Cup: Kris Srikkanth

Earlier in the week, it was reported that Virat Kohli might not be considered for the upcoming T20 World Cup, which is slated to begin on June 1. It said that the star India batter doesn’t meet the demands of the format and unless he changes his approach and plays aggressively in the IPL 2024, he won’t be considered for selection. However, none of the BCCI officials commented on the same as Secretary Jay Shah previously stated that they haven’t taken a call on the World Cup squad.

Meanwhile, former India international Kris Srikkanth was stunned by reports of Kohli not being part of the mega tournament. He mentioned that there was no chance of it and labelled it as ‘rumour-mongers’. The 1983 World Cup winner reminded Kohli’s achievements in the 2022 T20 World Cup and stated that the Delhi-born cricketer should be honoured like how Sachin Tendulkar was after the 2011 ODI World Cup.

“You need a guy who can just stay there. India need that sheet anchor, be it T20 World Cup or ODI World Cup. Without Virat Kohli, the Indian team cannot go. We need Virat Kohli, 100 per cent. I still believe Virat Kohli should be honoured like how Sachin Tendulkar was in 2011. The Indian team should win the World Cup for Virat. It will be a great thing for Virat Kohli,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

Notably, Kohli finished as the leading run-scorer in the T20 World Cup 2022. After which, all the senior players including Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma were given a break from the shortest format of the game but they made their return in the Afghanistan series earlier in the year. Meanwhile, even though Rohit played all the matches in the series, Kohli played two matches, but couldn’t impress with the bat. 

Also Read - Brad Haddin compares Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s captaincy

The upcoming IPL holds a lot of importance as he will be making a return to cricket after almost two months. There’s still no update on his whereabouts, but the cricketer is likely to take part in ‘RCB Unbox’ event, which is slated to take place on March 19 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.