Sunil Gavaskar: Virat Kohli's IPL 2024 form key to his T20 World Cup selection
Legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar said that it is not the right time to discuss Virat Kohli’s inclusion in the T20 World Cup 2024. According to him, the IPL before the T20 WC will determine whether there will be a place for VK.
There was a rumor about the elimination of both Kohli and Rohit Sharma after India’s T20 WC 2023 debacle.
However, Kohli was in tremendous form in the ongoing IPL and even prior to that. He scored two consecutive 100s. He surpassed Cris Gayle’s record of the most IPL hundreds.
Sunil Gavaskar told Sports Tak, “The next T20 World Cup will be played in 2024. There will be another IPL before that in March-April. Kohli’s form should be observed at that point. There is no point talking about it now. If we are talking about an upcoming T20 international, say India is playing a match in June, then he definitely fits into the team, the kind of form that he has shown.”
“But, speaking about the 2024 World Cup, which will be held in West Indies and America, the form of players needs to be observed in the IPL before that and then we can talk about selection for the World Cup squad.”
In IPL 2023, Kohli piled up 639 runs in 14 matches with an average of 53.25. His strike rate was 139.82. He has 2 centuries and 6 half centuries to his credit.
To the former legend, no one can question Kohli’s inclusion in the T20 squad looking at his current form.
“Virat would definitely be in my T20I team on current form for India’s upcoming matches in the format. He has scored two hundreds in IPL 2023. Hitting two hundreds in T20 cricket, even scoring 50 is difficult.”
Despite Virat Kohli’s outstanding performance, RCB’s poor streak in the IPL continues. This season too, RCB failed to qualify for the playoffs.