Virat Kohli should be a part of India's T20 World Cup squad : Syed Kirmani

The former Indian wicket-keeper batter Syed Kirmani has said in a statement that Virat Kohli should definitely be a part of India's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup which will be played in Australia later this year. Kohli who is going through a rough patch for a while now managed to score just 12 runs in the recently concluded T2OI series against England. The former Indian skipper wasn't part of the 1st match but scored only 1 and 11 in the 2nd and 3rd T2OI respectively.

The 33-year-old has not been included in either of ODI or T2O squad for the West Indies tour starting from July 22 in Trinidad. Men in blue will play 3 ODIs and 5 T2OIs on their tour to the Caribbean out of which 2 T2OIs will be played in Florida. He is said to be rested for the whole white-ball tour and is expected to return for the Asia Cup.

The 1983 world cup winner Kirmani also stated that Kohli could be a game changer for the team in the tournament. "Virat Kohli has loads of experience. He should be in the T2O World Cup squad. Once Kohli returns to form, he will be u stoppage. He could be a game-changer. A player with Kohli's experience and abilities deserves to be in the World Cup squad", Kirmani told Dainik Jagran. Kohli hasn't scored an international century since November 2019 but still has prominent T20 stats.

He has 3308 runs to his name with 30 half-centuries at a brilliant average of 50 and strike rate of 137 in 99 matches he has played for men in blue in the shorter format. "There is tough competition in the Indian team. Look, if someone else was going through the rough patch that Kohli is, he would have been dropped from the team by now. But I feel that an established player should be given the benefit of the doubt," he added. According to reports, BCCI wants Virat Kohli to play in 3-match ODI series against Zimbabwe before going for Asia Cup.