Kapil Dev pitches for equal treatment of Kohli: For the past three years, Virat Kohli is showing a strong display towards not meeting his earlier standards which ended up him calling him “the legendary batsman”. His wrist knocks
and pull-shots are barely lacking any space on the TV frames, besides social media buzzing more with pictures and images of his failures.
As is the case, now some of the Indian team’s former players began to pitch for equal treatment being given to all the players. In one such scenario, Kapil Dev shared his thoughts on dropping Virat Kohli from the team. His comments were profoundly based on the comparative analysis of Kohli’s on par with off-spinner, R Ashwin, ironically.
Despite the batsman-bowler combination being taken to treat the current Kohli’s form, there are some real cues that are to be considered on a general platform. In one of the TV interviews, the Indian team ex-skipper shared his thoughts about confining Kohli to the bench.
Kohli hasn’t been among big runs for nearly three years now and the World Cup-winning all-rounder feels that Indian team management will be doing a disservice if in-form players aren’t given enough opportunities to showcase their skills.
Speaking during one of the prime-time shows on a Hindi news channel, Kapil not being hesitant said that Kohli is currently looking like a shadow of his old self. “Yes, now the situation is such that you might be forced to bench Kohli from T20 playing eleven. If world No. 2 bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then (once upon a time) world No. 1 batter can also be dropped,” Kapil told a news channel.
He said Virat is not meeting his own batting standards set by himself and has been seen by us for over many years. “He has made a name because of his performances but if he isn’t performing, then you can’t keep the performing youngsters out of the team,” he said.
Ex-skipper also made an underlining observation about Kohli being given rest for the West Indies T20I. “It would rather be considered as “dropped”. You can call it rest and someone else will call it dropped. Every person will have his own view. Obviously, if selectors don’t pick him (Kohli), then it could be because a big player isn’t performing,” he emphasized.
According to Kapil, the process of finalizing playing XI should be based on current form and not past reputations. “Play in-form players when you have loads of options. You can’t just go by reputation but you have to look for the current form. You can be an established player but that doesn’t mean that you will be given chances even if you fail five games in a row,” he said, in concluding remarks.
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