Virat Kohli is known for the frequent cuts and changes he makes to the Playing XI, but former batter Virender Sehwag is not impressed with this habit of the India captain.
Sehwag’s frustrations with Kohli were visible after Shreyas Iyer was knocked out of India’s XI for the first T20I against Australia on Friday, his place being taken by Manish Pandey. What didn’t impress Sehwag was the fact that in India’s previous T20I series, against New Zealand in January, Iyer had scored 153 runs in five games and was coming off a decent IPL season in which he scored more than 500 runs for Delhi Capitals.
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However, Iyer after three low scores of 2, 38 and 19 in the ODIs against Australia, was left out. Sehwag said there was no reason to leave Iyer out of the XI and even mentioned how all these rules apply to everyone on the team except Kohli himself.
“If you speak of Shreyas Iyer, if in the previous T20 series he had a good performance, then on what basis you did not play him in this match. Is there any reason? I don’t think even Shreyas Iyer has the guts to ask why they didn’t play it, ”Sehwag had said on Sony Sports Network after the first T20I.
“If this decision has been made with the team in mind, then it is fine, otherwise if it has been made thinking that Shreyas Iyer does not play short bowling that well and therefore has been given a chance to someone else, then it will be a different thought because he has scored runs in the last T20I games. Therefore, you should have opportunities.
“I’ll say one more thing, all the rules apply to everyone other than Virat Kohli, no rules apply to him. His batting order is not changed nor is he left out or given a break when he’s out of shape. So that’s wrong. “
Sehwag explained how Kohli, the captain, should learn from his career lows. Referring to MS Dhoni and the 2014 England tour, in which Kohli scored just 134 runs in 10 innings, Sehwag noted that like Dhoni, Kohli also needs to back the youngsters on his team, without whom India will not be able to. generate good players in the future.
“Virat Kohli has to think that on the England tour, when he failed, if he wasn’t given chances after that, how would he have become such an important player?” He said. “He himself says that MS Dhoni has backed him and that he will always remain his captain. Is there a player on this team who says the same about Virat Kohli? it’s hard.
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