Ishant Sharma's direct yet different take on does Virat Kohli walk into India's T20 XI question
Many former cricketers including the legendary Kapil Dev have expressed their concerns over Kohli's form and place in the T20I setup but veteran Indian seamer Ishant Sharma has a slightly different opinion.
With Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja returning to the squad what would be India's XI for the second T20I against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Saturday? The team that played the first T20I fired in all cylinders with Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya scoring with the bat. But with Kohli and Pant returning, it is unlikely that all of them will retain their places. Many former cricketers including the legendary Kapil Dev have expressed their concerns over Kohli's form and place in the T20I setup but veteran Indian seamer Ishant Sharma has a slightly different opinion.
Ishant said it might be hard on Deepak Hooda but Kohli will play if he is available. "I think it will be hard on Deepak Hooda, because Virat Kohli will come in at No.3. It is something that no matter how much you try to tell yourself, the truth is that if Kohli is available, he will play," Ishan said on Jatin Sapru's YouTube channel.
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Kohli and the other seniors were not a part of the first T20I as they were all part of India's playing XI in the Edgbaston Test that ended barely a couple of days before the white-ball series opener. But with the T20 World Cup around the corner, the Indian think tank want their best possible XI to be playing together in the shortest format as much as possible from now on. But the big question is, does Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja feature in that?
Ishant feels Kohli, Jadeja and Pant will feature in the team but Iyer might have to wait because of Suryakumar Yadav.
"Ravindra Jadeja should come in for Axar Patel, he can hit the ball just like Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik," he said. "I think Suryakumar Yadav will play both of the remaining matches at No 4 ahead of Shreyas Iyer. They might rotate the five incoming players because these are back-to-back matches."