Bengaluru: Former South African pacer Dale Steyn opined that Virat Kohli will have to be among runs to claim a place in India’s T20 World Cup squad as a lot of youngsters have leapfrogged the star batter in the past couple of months. Steyn was indicating towards the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Shivam Dube, who were brilliant at the top of the order against Afghanistan. Kohli has not played for India since the T20I series against Afghanistan at home in January, skipping the ensuing five-match Test series against England owing to family reasons.
Kohli has, infact, played just two T20Is since the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. With the IPL just eight days way, there is no trace about the former India skipper as to when he will join the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for the upcoming Indian Premier League.
“I think, look, it’s very important that he scores runs because it will put him in a good frame going to the World Cup. There’re many guys who have leapfrogged him recently because he’s taken a bit of a break and there’re many contenders that are possible to take to that World Cup (squad),” Steyn said in an interaction during the ‘Star Sports Press Room.’
With Kohli not playing much T20Is these days, there was a question mark raised on Kohli’s spot in the squad for the T20 World Cup. However, one can never write off Kohli as long as he is playing the game. Steyn, who has shared the dressing room with Kohli at RCB before, said the Indian’s experience might come handy for him when the selectors sit to pick the squad.
“I look at runs the same way that you look at someone’s bank balance, so to speak. Virat has got stacks and stacks of runs that he stored up over many years. It is going to work when India is looking to pick a team that goes to the World Cup. They’re going to look for guys who have been there and done that and that’s something Virat has done,” said Steyn.
Meanwhile, RCB are likely to start their training on March 19, the day of their RCB Unbox Event. The likes of Akash Deep, Will Jacks, Reece Topley and Glenn Maxwell have already arrived in Bengaluru. RCB will start their campaign against defending champions Chennai Super Kings on March 22.
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