Will Virat Kohli play T20 World Cup 2024? One of his best friends, Chris Gayle, spills the beans

Former West Indies power hitter Chris Gayle has come out in support of his former Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Virat Kohli. While speaking to Sportstak in an exclusive chat, Gayle backed his former opening partner to play a key role for the Indian team in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup later this June. This year’s edition will be much more challenging than the previous ones as it is going to be a 20-team affair.

The Men in Blue bowed out from the Group stages and the Semi-finale stage in the previous 2 editions in 2021 and 2022. Virat Kohli was captaining India when they suffered a humiliating exit from the 2021 WC, held in UAE. That edition was eventually won by Australia. Next year, Rohit Sharma’s side reached the semi-finals where England came out on top by a whopping 10 wickets.

Since then, the Men in Blues have squandered two more opportunities to bring an end to their ICC trophy drought. Last year, India had the best opportunity to do the ICC double by winning the WTC final in June and the 50-over World Cup in October-November. However, an adamant Australian team stepped over their hopes on both occasions.

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What did Chris Gayle say about Kohli?

In a recent interview with Sportstak, Chris Gayle pointed out that Virat Kohli is a player who can fit into any team in the world. Gayle backed Kohli to play the entire 2024 T20 World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Gayle’s former national team along with USA for the first time.

“Virat Kohli should play the 2024 T20 World Cup. He fits in any team in the world”. – Gayle said via Sportstak. 

Kohli currently stands as the highest run-scorer ever in the history of ICC T20 World Cup editions. He will have a solid chance of stretching his lead on top of the run-scoring charts which also has Rohit Sharma in the Top 5.

At the moment, Kohli has 1141 runs from just 25 innings at a staggering average of 81.5 with a best of 89*. He first played the tournament back in 2012, the same year in which Chris Gayle and West Indies won its maiden T20 WC title.

In the 2014 edition, Virat Kohli led from the front and ended as the highest run scorer with 319 runs from 6 innings. However, India lost against Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the finale which was held in Dhaka. Then 2 years later, Kohli finished as the 2016 edition’s 2nd highest run-getter in what was the first time India hosted the mega event. But his efforts remained in vain again as the hosts lost to eventual 2-time winners West Indies in the semis held in Wankhede.

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Virat Kohli to stage his return through IPL 2024

The 35-year-old who has been absent from the Indian team, which is taking on England for a 5-match Test series, is most likely to stage his return through IPL 2024. Virat Kohli has been out of all cricketing actions since January 17th. He opted out of the England series due to the birth of his second child with wife Anushka Sharma.