IND vs SL: "Virat Kohli Might Have Been Given Rest" - Rajkumar Sharma On Virat Kohli's Absence From T20I Squad

Rajkumar Sharma, Virat Kohli’s former coach, recently said he was unaware of the star batter’s request to sit out the forthcoming three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka.
Kohli is one of the noticeable omissions from India’s T20I roster for the matches against Sri Lanka, but he will be playing in the team for the ensuing ODI series.

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On December 28, Sharma brought up the fact that Kohli’s withdrawal from the T20 team had not received formal confirmation during a discussion on India News Sports.

However, Sharma stated that he does not think the former India captain has been dropped, adding: “There is still no clarity regarding his exclusion from the T20 squad. Since there is no official e-mail or any confirmation over the same, we don’t know if he has been dropped, or if he himself asked for rest. I don’t think it’s right to say that he has been dropped.”

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Other senior players than Kohli, including Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, were not selected for the team for the T20I matches but were picked for the ODI series.

“Team management will not drop players like Virat Kohl: Rajkumar Sharma

Rajkumar Sharma continued by saying that players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will not be removed from the team without first speaking to them.

Given that a 50-over World Cup will take place the following year, he stated that the Indian think tank wants their senior players to focus on ODIs. Sharma stressed that India can afford to give new players a go in the shortest format because there are no significant T20 competitions on the horizon.

“There is no major T20 competition coming up, and there is still a lot of time left for the next World Cup. These guys were there for the Test matches in Bangladesh, and most of them are also available for the ODI series against Sri Lanka”

“Virat Kohli might have been given rest as a lot of other senior players aren’t in the T20 team either. The team management has rested these guys and given the youngsters an opportunity. I don’t think they would replace players like them without having any conversations with them,” Sharma stated.

In January of next year, India and Sri Lanka will play three T20Is and as many ODIs. On January 3, the T20I series’ opening match will take place at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.

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