Virat Kohli will return in T20Is during the Edgbaston T20I against England. However, failure to perform across formats will pressure him, especially with the youngsters performing.
Star India batter and former skip Virat Kohli is desperate to brush aside his prolonged lean patch as he makes his Twenty20 International (T20I) return after five months. He will feature in the second T20I against England on Saturday at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Kohli's last T20I outing was back in February, having featured in only a couple of games since India's disastrous campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup in October-November last year, as it crashed out of the tournament in the group stage under his leadership. The only T20 cricket he played since then is the IPL. However, he was not at his best even there.
Kohli and other seniors are given frequent breaks as part of the team's rest and rotate policy. The policy has allowed several youngsters to be given chances in the senior side, which has heavily aided top-order batter Deepak Hooda, who has done a fine job batting at number three, a position Kohli usually bats in.
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Hooda slammed a 17-ball 33 in the opening T20I against England at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Thursday. Thus, it is likely that the team management, along with skipper Rohit Sharma, could decide to retain him. And, if he is indeed maintained, Kohli might open alongside Rohit, while wicketkeeper-opener Ishan Kishan might be dropped, who has been in great shape too.
Kohli is quite familiar with the opening position, and his previous half-century in T20Is also came in the same spot. While he will take another break during the five T20Is against the WindiesIndies, the two matches against England would be highly vital regarding his Team India future in the shortest format.
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Kohli has 'been there and done that'. However, with the young batch performing effectively and playing fearless cricket, he will have to return to his best at the quickest. Besides him, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer are also back in the side following a break after the Edgbaston Test defeat earlier this week.
(With inputs from PTI)