"I don't see any questions on his place" - Sunil Gavaskar on the importance of IPL 2024 for Virat Kohli from T20 World Cup perspective

Sunil Gavaskar doesn't have any doubts over Virat Kohli's place in India's squad for this year's T20 World Cup. The cricketer-turned-commentator expects the former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper to have an excellent run in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024).

Kohli and Rohit Sharma were recalled to India's T20I side for the series against Afghanistan last month for the first time since the 2022 T20 World Cup. While Rohit scored a century in the last T20I, Kohli scored 29 runs in the second game and was dismissed for a duck in the third match after opting out of the series opener due to personal reasons.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gavaskar was asked whether Virat Kohli would be looking to strengthen his case for a place in India's T20 World Cup through his performances in IPL 2024, considering that the Men in Blue don't have any T20Is to play before the global event.

The former India opener responded:

"Absolutely, because questions are being asked whether a young team should be taken as we couldn't win the ICC 50-over World Cup with this team. So for T20, which is called a young man's game, do we need young players?"

"If you check fitness and speed, Virat Kohli's speed is more than some of the youngsters. If he has a good season, and why shouldn't he have a good season because he scores a lot of runs at the Bangalore ground and he has scored a lot of runs on the Mumbai ground as well, so I don't see any questions on his place," Gavaskar added.

Kohli amassed 639 runs, including two centuries, at an excellent average of 53.25 and an impressive strike rate of 139.82 in 14 innings for RCB in IPL 2023. He was the franchise's second-highest run-scorer, behind only Faf du Plessis' tally of 730 runs.

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"He wants to show that he should be the second name picked after the captain" - Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was the highest run-scorer in the 2022 T20 World Cup. [P/C: Getty]

Sunil Gavaskar noted that Virat Kohli would want to be the second player picked, behind only the captain. He said:

"When the selection committee sits, the captain will be there. So he wants to show that he should be the second name picked after the captain. To show that, he will perform like that this year as well, just as he did in the World Cup and last year in the IPL as well."

Kohli was the highest run-scorer in the 2023 ODI World Cup. He aggregated 765 runs in 11 innings at an outstanding average of 95.62 and a decent strike rate of 90.31.