Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said that he was not concerned about the form of Virat Kohli ahead of the India v South Africa T20 World Cup 2024 final on June 29 in Barbados.
Kohli has not been in the best of form, scoring a duck against England in the semi-final, and has only 75 runs in 7 matches with a best score of 37 and an average of 10.71. It was expected that Kohli would boss the opposition bowling as an opener as he did for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL 2024.
Kohli smacked 741 runs to win the Orange Cap for most runs in IPL 2024 with one century and 5 fifties to his name.
Since arriving in the United States and the West Indies for the flagship event, Kohli has been living a nightmare, chasing shadows of his former self and looking for runs with his bat.
While Indian captain Rohit Sharma and many former cricketers believe Kohli has been storing for a spectacle in the final, Manjrekar, looking at the big picture, is more concerned with the team's performance than a single player.
"Not concerned about Virat Kohli's form because the team's form is far more important,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
With Rohit leading the squad with a brave approach from the front, Manjrekar is confident that India will be able to end their ICC World Cup trophy drought thanks to the new template they introduced, which has worked well for them.
"Of course India can lift the World Cup 2024, India has discovered a new template, the modern template of playing T20 cricket, and it's paying rich dividends so far," Manjrekar stated.
It will be a clash of unbeaten teams after South Africa and India advanced to the final without losing a single match.
Manjrekar examined the Proteas players' threat and believes that their great pace pair and the hard-hitting opening batter could pose a threat to the Indian team in their quest to win the T20 World Cup crown.
"I would say one of the fast bowlers, either Anrich Nortje or Rabada or Quinton De Kock. In batting Quinton De Kock for sure," Manjrekar added.
(ANI inputs)
