'Virat Kohli should...' - Sourav Ganguly's red-hot take as he addresses batter's demotion for T20 WC final

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has shared his views on Virat Kohli's struggle with the bat in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024. 

After a fine campaign in the IPL where he scored 741 runs, Virat Kohli was promoted as an opener in the T20 World Cup. However, he has failed to live up to the expectations so far and has not been able to justify the decision to promote him as an opener.

On Thursday (June 27), he endured another failure with the bat as he was out for run-a-ball 9 runs against England in the semifinal. The former India opener was looking absolutely distraught after the dismissal as his teammates and head coach Rahul Dravid were seen consoling him in the dugout.

In 7 games so far, Virat Kohli has managed to score only 75 runs with a top score of 75. He has managed to reach the double-digit mark only twice in addition to getting out for a duck twice as well. With the star batter struggling as an opener, there have been calls from several quarters to send him back to his usual number 3 spot.

However, Sourav Ganguly has a different opinion. The India great has said that Virat Kohli's batting order should not be changed ahead of the final. He also stated that one should not write off Kohli in the final.

"Virat should continue to open. He just had a World Cup of 700 runs seven months ago. He is human. Sometimes, he will also fail, and you have to accept it.

"People like Kohli, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Rahul) Dravid, they are institutions for Indian cricket. Three-four matches don't make them weaker players. Don't rule him out in the final tomorrow," said Sourav Ganguly after being roped in as the brand ambassador of Veedol, as quoted by PTI.

Virat Kohli's incredible streak ends:

The failure to score big against England in the semifinal ended Virat Kohli's incredible streak in the T20 World Cup. It was the first time in four semifinals that the former India skipper failed to score a fifty. While Kohli has been struggling at the moment, the streak also shows just how consistent he has been in the competition in the past.

He scored a fifty against South Africa in the semifinal of the 2014 T20 World Cup before scoring fifties against West Indies and England in 2016 and 2022 respectively. Virat Kohli will be looking to end the tournament on a good note by making an impact with the bat in the final against South Africa.