Kapil Dev has added fuel to the fire over Virat Kohli's “rest” from India's upcoming tour of the West Indies where the Rohit Sharma-led side is set to participate in three ODIs and five T20Is.
The official word from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is that the star batter has been given a break from matches against the West Indies, but Kapil Dev suggests otherwise.
Virat Kohli suffered a groin injury in the final T20I against England at Trent Bridge and subsequently missed the first ODI against the Jos Buttler-led side at The Oval in London.
Nonetheless, the 33-year-old cricket star made his return in the next match at Lord's but failed to find his rhythm as he got out for a score of 16. He's now set to feature in the third ODI against England at Old Trafford in Manchester.
As Virat Kohli appeared in the game at the Mecca of cricket in the British capital, Kapil Dev ruled out the possibility of his absence from the West Indies tour due to an injury.
“I can't say a big player like Virat Kohli should be dropped. He is a very big player. If you have said that he has been rested to give him respect then there's no harm in that,” Kapil Dev told ABP News.
“The most important part is how to bring such a player back in form? He's not an ordinary cricketer. He should get more practice and play more matches to get his form back. I don't think there's any player in this world who is bigger than Kohli in T20s but when you are not doing well, the selectors can take their call. My thinking is that if anybody is not doing well then he can be rested or dropped,” Kapil Dev added.
“It's not like India haven't played without Virat in the last five to six years, but I want such a player to be back in form. Yes, he's been dropped or rested but there's still a lot of cricket left in him. And he has to create the path for that. Maybe play Ranji Trophy or score runs anywhere. His confidence needs to be back. This is the difference between a great and a good player. A great player like him shouldn't take so much time to get back in form. He has to fight with himself and get things in order. Yes, it's a bit of a concern that he is taking so much time to get back in form, a great player doesn't take this long,” Kapil Dev continued.
“I don't have any problems if he is dropped or rested but I want him to get back in form. One innings can change a great player's fortune but when will that come, we don't know. We are waiting for two years for that,” he summed up.
Earlier, Virat Kohli had received support from three different international captains – India skipper Rohit Sharma, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, and England's Jos Butter have all backed the out-of-form India batter to come out of his current slump.
“This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli,” Babar Azam wrote on Twitter.
“He has played so many matches for so many years. He has been such a great batsman so he does not need reassurance. I think I said in the last press conference as well that form can go up and down. That is part and parcel of all the players’ career. This happens with everyone. So a player who has won so many matches, needs only 1 or 2 innings. This is what I believe and I am sure rest feel the same way,” Rohit Sharma said in a press conference on Thursday.
“People keep talking about his form but we should realise that performances can always fluctuate but the quality of a player will never deteriorate. The guy has scored so many centuries, you look at his average. So he has the experience. But every player has gone through bad matches. There is no player who has played and always scored runs. A slump is inevitable, even in personal life,” Rohit Sharma added.
“I suppose in a little way it’s quite refreshing for the rest of us that he [Kohli] is human and he can have a couple of low scores as well, but look he has been one of the best players, if not the best player in ODI cricket in the world,” Jos Buttler said in a media briefing at Lord’s.
“So he’s been a fantastic player for so many years and all batters, it just proves, go through runs of form where they don’t perform as well as they can do sometimes, but certainly as an opposition captain, you know a player of that class is always due, so you’re hoping that it doesn’t come against us,” Jos Buttler pointed out.
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