IND vs ENG: Virat Kohli Won't Be There In My India Playing XI In T20Is- Ajay Jadeja

Ajay Jadeja, a former Indian batter, stated on Saturday that he would not select Virat Kohli for his T20 lineup and that India must decide whether the former captain fits their new strategy of playing aggressive T20I cricket. 

There are two obvious choices for the captain and the team management to select when it comes to their T20I style, according to Ajay Jadeja, and when it comes to Virat Kohli’s future, it becomes a difficult decision. 

Ajay Jadeja Remarks On Virat Kohli

Jadeja made his remarks prior to India’s 49-run victory against England in the second T20I. For the match in Birmingham, India selected a lineup that includes Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and Virat Kohli once again but left out the in-form Deepak Hooda. 

India is attempting to build their T20I batting on being brave at the top and into the middle overs, as was obvious from the manner the batsmen charged at the England attack from the get-go.

Pant and Rohit Sharma led India’s opening pair, but Kohli struggled at No. 3 following a quick-fire 49-run opening partnership. He managed only one run from three deliveries. 

“You have been shown that there is another way of playing the same game. You are still scoring around 180 to 200. It’s not that the game has changed, but you have a choice of how you want to play. I think Rohit Sharma will be making that call,” Jadeja told Sony Sports. 

“I think anyone who is leading the side has only two choices. That’s the way I see it. Either you stick to the way you have been playing, give opportunities to youngsters or you go back to your old team that played before you started trying to give opportunities,” he added. 

Virat Kohli Is A Special Player: Ajay Jadeja

Deepak Hooda, who had been in outstanding form and had recently struck fifty and a hundred in Ireland, was not included in the Indian team. In the first T20I, Hooda fought back to win the match. 

“Virat Kohli is a special player. If it wasn’t Virat Kohli, he wouldn’t have probably playing Test cricket as well,” Jadeja elaborated. 

“You look at the numbers and say ‘oh, over the last 8, 10 matches, he hasn’t scored a hundred’. But you don’t leave him out just because he hasn’t scored a hundred. You don’t leave him out because of what he is done in the past. 

“Virat Kohli is a choice that you have to make. Do you want to play that solidity at the top and then get runs right at the back? It’s that old-style when Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will bat at the top and you would have players like Dhoni where they get 60 in the last 4 overs. 

“It depends on whom you want to play. I feel you have a choice, it’s a tough one to make. If I had to pick a T20 side, Virat probably won’t be there,” he added. 

All of the game’s forms have seen a decline in Virat Kohli’s performance. In the Birmingham Test last week, the former skipper scored just 31 runs over two innings, and on Saturday, he struggled to get going in the T20I. 

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