India vs South Africa | Wanted to give opportunities to successful domestic cricketers, asserts Virat Kohli

After a disappointing World Cup campaign that ended in a loss at the semi-final stage, India travelled to the Carribean where the Windies found themselves at the end of a backlash. Winning in all three formats, India now travel back home to take on South Africa in the T20I series before the tour moves to the longest format of the game.

However, India decided to leave out both Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav from the squad which came as a surprise to many owing to the fact that the duo have been extremely successful against the Proteas. Kohli has now come out and explained the thought process behind the decision.

“The increased depth in batting was one of the reasons why Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were excluded. Also, we wanted to give opportunities to the guys who have done well over the last couple of years in domestic cricket and in IPL. It is about finding the best balance in the combination and not just sticking to only one combination,” Kohli said, reported Hindustan Times.

“If all teams in the world are batting till 9 and 10, then why can’t we. So, you need to take those calls at some stage. Bringing both those guys together was also not taken by people at one stage. All the decisions are made to ensure that the team has the strongest balance that we can have.”

Kohli further added that with the T20 World Cup a year away, the team wants to experiment and hand chance to players so as to construct the best possible side for the World event. 

“Every time you are approaching a world tournament, you treat it as a milestone and start preparing backwards. Each team has the same process. We have around 30 games before the T20I World Cup. The first couple of series are an opportunity to try and see what our best combination could be,” he added.

“We want to see how much ability, character and composure the new additions have, to perform at the international level. It is quite exciting for the captain and management. Trying out different players in different combinations and to see how they perform. We have all gone through that process. So, it feels really good to see new players come in and express themselves.”