Dropped or rested? – Virat Kohli’s childhood coach issues clarification on Virat Kohli’s exclusion from T20I series against Sri Lanka

Team India are all set to host Sri Lanka for a three-match T20I and ODI series in January next year. Virat Kohli, former skipper of India, KL Rahul, and Rohit Sharma are all named in the ODI team but not in the T20Is.

Hardik Pandya has been chosen as the team’s captain, with Suryakumar Yadav acting as his deputy for the T20Is due to the unavailability of seniors.

The decision to not select Kohli comes at a time when he has scored the second-most runs for Men in Blue in the T20 International matches. In T20Is this year, Kohli has amassed 781 runs at an outstanding average of 55.78 in 20 games. The right-handed batter finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 296 runs in six games at an astounding average of 98.66, which included four half-centuries.

Given his outstanding performance in the shortest format in 2022, Kohli’s non-selection has generated a lot of discussions. Experts and cricket fans disagree about whether the 34-year-old has been benched or given a break.

Virat Kohli might have been given rest as a lot of other senior players aren’t in the T20 team either: Rajkumar Sharma

Rajkumar Sharma, Kohli’s childhood coach, shared his opinions on India News Sports in the midst of the controversy surrounding the situation and stated that it would be inaccurate to imply that Kohli had been dropped because there hasn’t been any official confirmation about the same.

“There is still no clarity regarding his exclusion from the T20 squad. Since there is no official e-mail or any confirmation over the same, we don’t know if he has been dropped, or if he himself asked for rest. I don’t think it’s right to say that he has been dropped,” said Rajkumar

The team for the T20I series against Sri Lanka does not include any other senior players, according to Kohli’s coach. Given the lack of recent significant T20 competitions, he speculated that the team management may have done it to give young players a chance.

“There is no major T20 competition coming up, and there is still a lot of time left for the next World Cup. These guys were there for the Test matches in Bangladesh, and most of them are also available for the ODI series against Sri Lanka,” he added.

“Virat Kohli might have been given rest as a lot of other senior players aren’t in the T20 team either. The team management has rested these guys and given the youngsters an opportunity. I don’t think they would replace players like them without having any conversations with them,” explained Rajkumar.