The next India vs. Afghanistan series will begin on Thursday, January 11, at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, and will mark the star batsman Virat Kohli 14-month absence from T20I cricket. Significantly, Kohli did not play in the T20 World Cup 2022, as India lost to England by 10 wickets, eliminating them from the semi-finals.
The 35-year-old will, however, be absent from the opening game of the series for personal reasons and make a comeback for the final two games. Former Indian cricketer turned pundit Aakash Chopra said that, as Kohli is most effective when he opens the innings in T20s, he should do so before making his comeback to the shortest format of international cricket.
When he bats in the powerplay overs and opens the innings, I believe that Kohli is at his best in Twenty20 cricket. In the event that you deny him that choice and he starts to play a little more slowly against spinners, that would be expected. That’s because it has consistently occurred. Is Kohli going to open? No, in my opinion. I predict a play from either Yashasvi Jaiswal or Shubman Gill. Yashasvi will have to sit out, as Gill is a seasoned player and may participate. It may not be equitable, but that is possible. Chopra told Jio Cinema, “I see Kohli batting at No. 3.”
Notably, Kohli begins the batting for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and has had incredible success with the bat. He scored two hundred and six fifties, with an average of 53.25 and a strike rate of 139.82, to rank as the fourth-highest run scorer of the season in the tournament’s 2023 edition.
In T20Is, the most productive batter is Virat Kohli.
In both the T20 World Cup and T20 Internationals, the cricketer from Delhi is the most productive batter. With 107 innings and an average of 52.73, Kohli has amassed 4008 runs in Twenty20 internationals while recording 107 fifty-scores. In contrast, he has amassed 1141 runs from 25 innings in the T20 World Cup, hitting at a strike rate of 131.30 and averaging 81.50 with 14 half-centuries.
Five months remain until the T20 World Cup 2024, so the batting virtuoso will try to get himself in peak form by hammering Afghanistan for a ton of runs.
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