Virat Kohli will not be a certainty anymore in T20Is anymore, opines Wasim Jaffer

The Indian team is preparing for the T20I World Cup to be held in Australia later this year. They will need to finalise their first-choice players before the start of the showpiece event. India’s middle-order batters will play a crucial role in the tournament. Batters like Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, and Shreyas Iyer are fighting for a spot in the middle order and this might make Virat Kohli’s place in the T20I team uncertain. Kohli has been going through a lean patch for a couple of years and several media reports have stated that his performance in the upcoming series against England will determine his future. 

Sharing his views on the issue, Wasim Jaffer has stated that Virat Kohli will not be a certainty anymore in the T20Is as the younger players are cashing in on the opportunities they are getting. 

"Kohli plays, there's no doubt about it but his form will be taken into consideration. His IPL strike rate hasn't been great. He's not been in the best of forms. Deepak Hooda can give you an option with bowling so that will be taken into consideration but not straightaway. I'd say Kohli will get an opportunity to play a few matches and then probably selectors will take a call but I don't think he'll be a certainty because so many young players have done so well. In the last T20 World Cup, the strike rate, that approach, was questioned and I think we need to keep looking at the future," Jaffer told ESPNCricinfo.

Virat Kohli scored 341 runs from 16 matches at a strike rate of just 115.99 and hasn’t played any T20I since then. Deepak Hooda scored a century in his absence against Ireland while Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya have also contributed in the middle-order.  India will play a white-ball series against England starting from July 7 and that will be a crucial tournament for Kohli.