Can Virat Kohli retain his place for England Tests post BGT flop show? Here’s what ex-BCCI selector says

On the very first delivery of the 14th over, Kohli nicked the waist-heighted ball and it went straight to Steve Smith’s safe hands. Kohli had scored 6 runs till that time and face 12 deliveries.

Following his dismissal, the 36-year-old cricketer yelled at himself and punched his thigh. Considered to be the flag-bearer of Indian batting since the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar, Kohli has failed to get going in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

If one remove the 136 runs he had aggregated over his two innings in Perth and Melbourne, and Kohli is left with just 54 runs across his seven other completed knocks.

All-time lowest phase:

For a champion player like Virat Kohli, it is very difficult to take a decision when he is going through his career’s all-time lowest phase.

Though it can be understood that Kohli is in no mood to retire and wants to play for India till the 2027 ODI World Cup.

What ex-national selector opines:

Expressing his opinion, an ex-national selector is not sure how Kohli plans to convince the selectors for the England tour in June without playing any tangible red-ball cricket.

“It would be very hard for selectors to pick either Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli on the basis of IPL performance or form. Their has to be some red-ball cricket for them in lead-up to England tour. Else you can’t justify their selections,” the former selectors told PTI.

Also, there is no indication as of now that Kohli intends to play the Ranji Trophy, which restarts from 23 January 2025.

There is no window to play any red-ball tournament till June for Kohli, citing three-match ODI series against England from February 6 followed by the Champions Trophy and then the IPL.

Among others, Kohli lives in his new home in London for better part and only joins the national team or IPL side before the start of a series or tournament.

Now the only other option left for Kohli is to speak with selectors and play at least couple of India A games during its shadow tour to England, before India’s tour begins with the first Test at Leeds from 18 June.