Talismanic India batter Virat Kohli's wretched run with the bat has led to intense discussions about his future in Team India, especially in limited-overs cricket. Virat Kohli isn't a part of India's ongoing tour of the West Indies featuring three ODIs and five T20Is and won't be traveling to Zimbabwe where the Men in Blue are scheduled to play an ODI series in August. While many pundits believe that time away from the sport will help Virat Kohli find his lost touch, former Pakistan player Danish Kaneria doesn't agree with those notions. Danish Kaneria who is the only Hindu to play for Pakistan even went on to slam the BCCI for not selecting Virat Kohli for next month's tour of Zimbabwe. Calling it a conspiracy to drop Virat Kohli ahead of the Asia Cup, he questioned the Indian cricket board for not offering the Delhi-born superstar to get back among the runs against weak opposition like Zimbabwe.
“Virat Kohli should have played in this series. Does BCCI think that he should only feature in major tournaments? But if he fails there, then once again there would be talks about his lack of form. I think that is an injustice for Virat Kohli,” Danish Kaneria said on his YouTube channel.
“You have to be very clear with how you want to handle him. While he was rested for the entire West Indies tour, he surely should have been there for the Zimbabwe series. He could have found his form in the 50-over games and then played the Asia Cup. But it seems now that he might be dropped for the Asia Cup as well,” Danish Kaneria added.
“India shouldn't have picked Ishan Kishan in the side as Sanju Samson would then have gotten to play all three ODIs without any extra pressure. Instead of Kishan, Kohli should have been in the squad,” Danish Kaneria noted.
“The management could have assessed his form in these games. He didn't rest during the IPL, but now that international cricket is happening, he has been asked to rest,” the ex-Pakistan tweaker elaborated.
“There have been concerns with Kohli's form and there's still no clarity regarding KL Rahul's comeback. India should have sent those players who are a bit out of form to play against the minnows so that they regain their lost touch, considering the important tournaments that are coming up in the future,” the former Pakistan leg-spinner concluded.
Though Danish Kaneria blamed the BCCI for Virat Kohli's non-inclusion in the team for Zimbabwe, reports in the Indian press suggest that the player spoke to the selectors and made himself available for tournaments beginning with the Asia Cup in the UAE.
“Virat had spoken to selectors that he would be available from the Asia Cup onwards. The first team players will hardly get rest from Asia Cup till end of World T20. Hence this is a two-week window after Windies tour when they can rest,” a BCCI official told news agency PTI.
Virat Kohli has been going through an extended dry spell with the bat. During the recent tour of England, the former India captain managed to score just 76 runs in his six outings in a Test match, and two ODIs and T20Is each.
While he perished at scores of 11 and 20 in the rescheduled fifth and final Test against the Three Lions in Edgbaston, Virat Kohli was dismissed for 1 and 11 in the T20I games in Birmingham and Trent Bridge.
Though he missed the first clash of the ODI series because of a groin injury, he didn't succeed in changing his fortunes in the remaining two 50-over matches as he registered a total of 33 runs, making 16 and 17 at the Lord's and Old Trafford respectively.
Before that Virat Kohli had a horror run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as he could score only 341 runs at a mediocre average of 22.73 in 16 games in the tournament.
Virat Kohli last made a century in any form of international cricket in the historic Pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.
Since then, he has gone 78 consecutive knocks without a three-figure score on the international stage.
Earlier, former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi too was asked about the ex-India captain's prolonged lean patch with the bat. However, unlike other cricket stars, Shahid Afridi was straightforward in his response to a question on Virat Kohli.
“Why would he care about my advice? He has to perform because the expectations from him are so high from Virat. And for a very long time, there has been no performance from him according to the standards that he has set for himself,” Shahid Afridi said in an interaction with journalists in a video posted by Sports Paktv.
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