2024 began with a bang for the Indian cricket team as they trashed South Africa by seven wickets in the final Test of the tour. Now, all the attention shifts to the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, which starts on January 11.
These games are the only T20Is that India will be playing before the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, the groups and schedule for which were announced on Friday (January 6).
The buzz in the past few weeks has been about whether the legendary batting duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli play in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
With the India squad for the Afghanistan series yet to be announced, The Sporting News takes a look at five reasons why Kohli should not be a part of India's 2024 T20 World Cup squad.
MORE: Five reasons why Virat Kohli should be picked for ICC T20 WC 2024
Why should Virat Kohli not be in the India squad for 2024 T20 World Cup?
1) Hasn't played a T20I since November 2022
The fact that Kohli has been completely cast aside in T20Is since India's humiliating semi-final exit at the hands of England in the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup is a reason big enough for selectors to overlook the 35-year-old for the T20 WC in the USA and the Caribbean.
It's the first time in Kohli's career that he has been absent from the Indian squads in a particular format for so long. For all his experience and greatness, Kohli hasn't had any sort of continuity in the shortest format, which might result in a not-so-smooth return to the Indian team for T20Is.
2) Transition has already begun
Since that loss to England, India have played 25 T20Is. Kohli hasn't played in even a single T20I out of those 25. Players like Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, and Jitesh Sharma have made their debuts during this period (Tripathi and Varma have played in the No. 3 position while Rinku and Jitesh are finishers).
India have played a new-look middle order in the past 14 months or so, with the baton being passed over to the younger blood. The likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma, and Ishan Kishan have formed the batting core for India.
3) Not your typical T20 player
While Kohli is certainly an all-time T20I great, averaging over 52 and registering a 50+ score every 2.82 innings, he doesn't fit the more recent mould of aggressive T20 players: players who can go all guns blazing right from the word go.
In 2022, Kohli played 20 T20Is. He faced at least 10 balls in 14 out of those 20 innings.
He struck the ball at over 150 just twice out of those 14 innings, which is once every seven innings, which goes to show that he simply doesn't have the numbers to justify him being in the India T20I XI.
Kohli in T20Is in 2022:
| Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | S.R. | 50s | 100s | HS |
| 20 | 20 | 781 | 55.79 | 138.23 | 8 | 1 | 122* |
Kohli's innings breakdown in T20Is in 2022
| Innings played | 20 |
| Strike rate | 138.53 |
| No. of innings with mininum 10 balls faced | 14 |
| No. of innings with S.R. over 150 (min. 10 balls faced) | 2 |
| Percentage of innings with S.R over 150 (min. 10 balls faced) | 14.29% |
4) Allows India to play an extra left-hander in the middle-order
For a moment, let's consider a situation where Rohit Sharma is included in the Indian squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
In that case, we can expect Rohit to open the innings with either Shubman Gill or Yashasvi Jaiswal. The middle order, in the scenario that Hardik Pandya is back to fitness and gets selected for the tournament, will consist of three right-handed batsmen in Kohli, SKY, and Pandya.
In Kohli's absence, one of Tilak or Kishan can slot in at No. 3 and provide India the variety in the middle-order.
5) Inability to reinvent his game
Kohli has played innumerable match-winning knocks. That goes without saying and that is certainly not something anyone can dispute. But, he plays with just the same technique, the same pace, the same cricketing shots.
His approach has brought him considerable success, much more than many can only dream of, but sadly, it has made him a predictable player. Kohli is not a player who can consistently score 20-ball half-centuries or play a quick 10-ball 30-run cameo. That's just not his style and he hasn't even tailored his approach to suit the shortest format and keep himself in contention.
To give you an example, take Ajinkya Rahane's IPL 2023 campaign as a case study. A player who consistently played at a strike rate hovering around 120s took everyone aback with his new-look T20 game. Rahane reinvented himself from an orthodox opener to a hard-hitting middle-order enforcer. His strike rate in IPL 2023 was 172.49 and scored 16 maximums - both his personal-best figures in a single IPL season.
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