Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has achieved a new milestone in the IPL by scoring his eighth century, breaking his previous records. Despite this remarkable feat, critics still doubt his selection for the upcoming T20 World Cup scheduled for June.
Currently, Kohli is leading the IPL 2024 run-scoring charts with 316 runs from five matches. However, his strike rate of 146.30, which includes the slowest IPL century ever off 67 balls, has sparked ongoing discussions.
The star Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell who is also the teammate of Virat Kohli in RCB suggested that India shouldn’t select the 35-year-old for the big tournament. He praised Kohli as the best clutch player he’s faced and thinks if Kohli doesn’t play in the T20 World Cup, Australia will benefit.
While talking to ESPNCricinfo, Kohli said, “Virat Kohli is the most clutch player I have ever played against. The innings he played against us in Mohali during the 2016 T20 World Cup are still the best innings I have ever seen played against me. His awareness of what he needs to do to win the game is just phenomenal. I hope India doesn’t pick him (for the T20 World Cup) because it will be great to not come up against him.”
The all-rounder understands that Kohli is feeling the pressure right now, and he believes it’s fair because there are many other talented players in the Indian Cricket Team.
“It’s not surprising because there are 1.5 billion (people in India) and I reckon half of them are unbelievable cricketers in this country (laughs). It’s a hard team to get into. You look at India’s top T20 players who are all playing in this tournament (IPL 2024). They are phenomenal players and there should be heat on every player,” Maxwell added.
