India’s star batter Virat Kohli is currently featuring in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, taking place in the West Indies and USA.
Initially, there were doubts about Kohli's selection for the squad, as multiple reports had suggested that selectors were unhappy with his approach in the shortest format.
However, Kohli silenced his critics with remarkable showing in the recently held IPL season. Playing for RCB, he finished the tournament as the highest run-getter, amassing 741 runs in 15 innings at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69, including one hundred and five half-centuries.
Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth has backed Virat Kohli to continue representing India in the T20 World Cup until 2026, when the tournament will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
Kohli was the leading run-getter in the 2022 edition of T20 World Cup while he won the Player-of-the-Tournament awards in the 2014 and 2016 editions of the tournament. However, he is yet to experience the joy of lifting the coveted trophy.
"Is this a last chance for them to win together as a team (with Rohit and Kohli), probably yes. Keep in mind, the 2026 T20 World Cup is in India. So everybody would like to play in India. As far as I am concerned, the kind of fitness Virat Kohli has, he can easily play until 2026. So 2026 could be Virat's last. For Virat Kohli, this is not the last chance. But he will be very keen because he has not won a T20 World Cup yet," Srikkanth said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
Team India haven’t won an ICC tournament since 2013. Last year, they lost the final of the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup to Australia.
Srikkanth believes Rohit Sharma's determination to win the trophy as a captain would be fueled by the heartbreaking loss in the 2023 World Cup final on home soil.
This will be Rohit’s ninth T20 World Cup as a player and second as a captain. In fact, he is one of only two players to play all editions of the global T20 tournament alongside Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.
Rohit was part of the Indian team that won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007.
"Whereas Rohit Sharma has won it in 2007. He wanted the ODI World Cup very badly, but he missed it. He will now be looking at the T20 World Cup, thinking he should win it for India as a captain. As a captain, winning the World Cup is a big thing. That's why MS Dhoni is being spoken about so much. He has won all the major trophies. Rohit Sharma will be keen on winning for the team and for the country more than himself, that's what I am trying to say," Srikkanth remarked.
(With ANI inputs)
