Xtra Time Web Desk: The upcoming white ball series against England is going to be make or break series for Virat Kohli as far his place in India’s T20 squad is concerned. According to a report in Inside Cricket, BCCI top officials is extremely worried and the message for Kohli is clear ‘Perform or Perish’:
“He has been a great servant of the Indian cricket. Without doubt one of the best. But his struggle for form and runs is now alarming. Selectors need to select people on form not on reputation. I am no authority but he needs to get his groove back soon. Perform or Perish has to be a way forward on him. I guess selectors will look for options before the T20 World Cup if he don’t get runs in England”, said one of the top BCCI official to InsideSport.
With the T20 World Cup is schedule for October, the selectors are now in no mood to take more chances with Kohli. According to a separate report by TOI, the selectors have deliberately not named the T20 Squad for the West Indies. The same will be named only after gauging Kohli and the performance of other players in the squad.
The report quoting sources has further claimed that the Indian team management and selectors are not clear about fitting Kohli in the T20I middle-order.
Kohli’s performance graph has dipped in last few years, especially in T20 format. Kohli has played 97 T20Is so far, scoring 3296 runs at an average of 51.5. But in his last 6 T20Is Kohli has averaged a poor 26.
In IPL 2022 as well in 16 Matches he could score only 341 runs @ average of 22.73
India at this stage have multiple options in Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer.