'Akaay' blamed for Virat Kohli's ongoing batting woes in shocking claims

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has made a controversial statement on Virat Kohli’s recent struggles as the preparations intensified for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Kohli, as expected, retained his place in India’s squad for the marquee event.

However, the major question is whether the former Indian cricket team captain put his poor form behind him and led the batting line-up from the front in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which is set to get underway on February 19 in Karachi, Pakistan.

Basit Ali says Virat Kohli's decision to miss England Tests was a turning point for him

The reason behind the concerns is the right-handed batter’s recent dismal form with the bat, as he could manage only 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75 in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against Australia. Before the Australia tour, Kohli scored 192 runs, averaging 19.2 across five home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand.

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Now, Virat Kohli’s place in the Indian cricket team is under immense scrutiny, and his performance in the upcoming three-match ODI series against England at home will be under the radar, as the national selectors are set to take a call on the the 36-year-old batter's future after the Champions Trophy 2025.

Amidst the heavy debate on India’s batting icon’s struggles and place in the team, Basit Ali has shockingly blamed Virat Kohli’s second child, Akaay, for his struggles with the bat. Actually, Kohli missed the five-match Test series against England last year at home due to the birth of Akaay.

Virat Kohli would’ve been a different player if he had played against England: Basit Ali

And the former Pakistan cricketer believes that if Virat Kohli had played in that Test series, things would have been different, as the pitches were good for batting for the first two days, and he could have easily found his mojo back in the home conditions and things wouldn't have been so tough for him.

Basit Ali said in a video posted on his YouTube channel: “Had Virat Kohli played the Test series against England and not missed it for the birth of his son, he would’ve been a different player. The pitches were brilliant for the first two days before they started to break.”

Meanwhile, the former Pakistan selector also reacted to the exclusion of Sanju Samson and Karun Nair from India’s squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. He slammed the Indian head coach, Gautam Gambhir, and selectors for not sticking to their words over domestic cricket.

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Basit Ali criticizes India's decision to leave out Sanju Samson and Karun Nair from ICC Champions Trophy 2025 squad

Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul have been picked ahead of Sanju Samson as the wicketkeepers for the eight-nation tournament despite the Kerala player smashing three T20I centuries last year. On the other hand, Karun Nair’s 779 runs in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 were not enough to make it to the India squad.

Basit Ali stressed that both Sanju Samson and Karun Nair should have been picked in the 2025 Champions Trophy squad while mentioning the Vidarbha captain’s VHT heroics. He signed off by saying, “Nair and Samson deserved a place. Rohit [actually it was Gautam Gambhir] had spoken about the importance of domestic cricket. Nair has performed in domestics.”